A governance and youth development analyst, Mr. George Sarpong, has described unemployment as the biggest challenge confronting Ghana, stressing the urgent need for a long-term national development strategy to harness the country’s human resource potential. Speaking on Teknokrat on Focus FM, Mr. George noted that universities such as KNUST graduate at least 10,000 students annually, but the public sector and white-collar jobs are unable to absorb even 20 percent of them.
Nationally, he said, a minimum of 100,000 graduates enter the job market every year, yet many remain unemployed for years. “Our biggest challenge as a country is unemployment.
We produce huge numbers of graduates annually, but because there is no consistent national development plan, governments keep abandoning policies started by their predecessors. This creates gaps and leaves many skilled graduates idle,” he said.
He cited Cuba’s model of exporting surplus health professionals as an example Ghana could emulate, noting that many nurses and engineers in Ghana remain unemployed despite the global demand for such skills. Responding to concerns that some graduates are not industry-ready, he called for stronger collaboration between academia and industry to align university curricula with job market needs.
“We need councils that bring together industry players and academia to shape training programs so that graduates meet real-world expectations,” he added. On the controversial role of “protocol” in securing jobs, Mr. George acknowledged that social capital plays a role everywhere in the world but urged young people not to demonize it.
Instead, he encouraged them to build networks, volunteer, and seek opportunities while in school. He further urged government to focus on sustainable job creation rather than temporary interventions.
According to him, creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurship, reserving quotas in government contracts for young companies, and preparing youth for opportunities in the Fourth Industrial Revolution would help address the unemployment menace. “If our young people keep leaving school without jobs or the opportunity to start their own businesses, it becomes a threat to national security,” he warned.