nation is sitting on a time bomb<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and thus, there is urgent need to rectify the situation.<\/p>\nIn February this year, Parliament passed the Youth Employment Agency Bill, which is expected to create employment for about 100,000 Ghanaian youth.<\/p>\n
But according to Dr. Baah Boateng, with the existing socio-economic challenges and the stringent measures adopted by government following the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme, unemployment cannot be solved.<\/p>\n
He explained that the IMF is only interested in the monetary aspect of the economy \u2018so they are coming in to help you balance your books and ensure that your balance of payment position is correct so they are not interested in the real sector of the economy,\u201d while the government is looking at the credibility the nation\u2019s economy will receive with the IMF bailout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the only thing I see about the IMF but I think that it is not something that is going to help the real sector which is growth and employment\u2026it will not trickle down to employment,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n
The economist further stated that the many taxes the government has introduced is burdening private sector which is now unable to expand to absorb the unemployed youth who cannot get into the public sector due to the embargo placed on employment.<\/p>\n
He advised that \u201cif you are in a recession, that is not when you tax people; the same people who continue to pay the direct tax and therefore you don\u2019t expect that these people will also go and increase consumption and help you stimulate the economy\u2026Private sector is not expanding and public sector employment is not going up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Baah Boateng criticized governments for instituting policies without considering the context within which the policies will be implemented, adding that, \u201csometimes when there is a problem coming from the demand side of the economy, you see policy makers using supply side solution to solve demand side problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
This, he noted will continue making joblessness a major problem in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are having many people entering the labour market but we don\u2019t have policies to be able to absorb them into employment and I think we need to sit up. We need to come up with short-term, medium-term and long-term policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe politicians themselves know that this is important\u2026so far as we continue to manage our economy based on annual budget\u2026everyday, we will come and talk and when we continue to talk, we will get frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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