The Unemployed University Graduates Association is skeptical about the 11.98 percent unemployment rate announced by the Ghana Statistical Service claiming that it is not accurate.
According to the Association, information available to it projects that the rate is between 24% to 28%.
The latest Ghana Labour Force Survey Report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) pegged the unemployment rate at 11.9% in 2015, a rise of about 6% since 2012/2013.
But speaking to Citi News, the President of the Unemployed Graduates Association, Desmond Bress Biney, argued that the Association believes the figure by the GSS does not reflect the true unemployment situation in the country.
“The way the unemployment rate is running, and as it stands now, as to how the Ghana Statistical Service conducts its analysis, to be fair to them, its good, but one can say that the numbers are huge than what they’ve announced. We are looking at Ghana’s unemployment rate somewhere around 24 to 28 percent, considering the number of people that are coming out of school every year and also the number that are joining the labour force,” he added.
Mr. Biney also noted that, the rising levels of joblessness will increase social vices in the country.
“As a country, if you have a quarter of your population to be unemployed, what it means is that, social vices will be high and production will be low, so it is not a good thing for any country to have at all.”
He further challenged the Statistical Service to gather current and detailed report on unemployment and called on government to put in place measures to reduce the trend.
“Having majority of your youth falling within the unemployment zone should not be something that should be entertained. That is what we as an association we’ve been advocating against. We have said that there is a need for us to have an accurate data, as it stands now, the figures that are coming out now are not 100% accurate because they are coming from the living standards document and the 2010 census. The Ghana Statistical Service has not conducted any recent research to that effect,” he added.
–
By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin