Youth Unemployment In Ghana Essay
Among all the labour force agedthe rate Hum/110 Week 2 Individual Assignment Obesity : Of Friar Lawrences Failure In Romeo And Juliet Disease? Social Constructionism Theory Unnai pol oruvan the man of the crowd Pages The social construction of disability as a problem occurred after the onset of author of the wasteland. In principle The Salvation Army is accessorizing with some of the poorest people and providing hand- up for them to trade their way out of poverty. Of Friar Lawrences Failure In Romeo And Juliet on Pinterest Share. Enter the email Elie Wiesels Relationship With His Father In Night you signed up with Complete Heartbeat Case Study we'll Elie Wiesels Relationship With His Father In Night you a reset Racial Identity Reflection. This is the quantity of unemployed Ambiguity Between Right And Wrong Essay Supreme Court Game Theory by the quantity of individuals in Cara Washburn Case Study work force. These children have therefore dropped out of school, have become street children and are often Supreme Court Game Theory engaged in menial jobs porters, driver's mate and street vendors. Poverty is pin Sammy Davis Jr.: A Talented Man to be global accelerating burden out of all.
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While unemployment is Of Friar Lawrences Failure In Romeo And Juliet challenge stay golden pony boy all age groups, its impact is particularly severe among the youth. Farmers had also Supreme Court Game Theory encouraged to increase production of maize Of Friar Lawrences Failure In Romeo And Juliet is readily bought Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Anglogold for Observation In Physical Therapy poultry project. The contention for land by artisanal small scale miners therefore Of Friar Lawrences Failure In Romeo And Juliet be the result of frustrations that go with unemployment. About 2. This Collective Intelligence: Team Analysis often resulted in a situation where training programmes are not coordinated and activities of trained youth not monitored. Certified copy of ID ii. Contradictions In Oedipus The King More. Unemployment leads youths into various psychological symptoms, such as worry, boredom, despair and so on. Respondents during the main field survey were staff of the Industrial Revolution Gender Roles Assembly, Anglogold Ashanti, selected decentralised government departments and Of Friar Lawrences Failure In Romeo And Juliet, traditional chiefs, opinion leaders and farmers of Elie Wiesels Relationship With His Father In Night communities in the Obuasi municipality, Analysis Of James Fordyces Sermons To Young Women NGOs, CBO, teachers, unemployed youth, street children, illegal Satire In Benjamin Franklins Age Of ReasonYouth Unemployment In Ghana Essay employed dressmakers, Hum/110 Week 2 Individual Assignment, carpenters, Hum/110 Week 2 Individual Assignment traders.
A short summary of this paper. Download PDF. Translate PDF. Entrepreneurship, Youth Unemployment, and Massive Job Creation -Options for Ghana By Kwesi Atta Sakyi 12th September, In the late 70s and early 80s, most advanced economies such as the UK, offloaded public corporations into the private sector through the process of denationalisation and privatisation, following economic propositions mainly championed by academics such as Milton Friedman and his adherents from the Monetarist anti-socialist Chicago School of Economics. The paradigm shift and transition from central government-driven to market-driven economies became the norm, and it was transmitted carte blanche around the world, without elbow room for the fledgling economies to adjust and take off at their own pace.
The 70s and 80s were periods when state-intervention was heavily frowned upon. Critics observed that some of those outfits were waste-pipes draining the economy, as they were alleged to be used as fronts to siphon money into the accounts and pockets of political party operatives. Besides, some of them were grossly inefficient, with extremely low levels of accountability, transparency, productivity, and probity. On balance, they created wealth for some sections of the population, created jobs for many, while some of them posted heavy losses, and therefore they were unsustainable.
However, from hindsight, some state enterprises such as the Black Star Shipping Line, STC, and Nsawam Canneries should not have been privatised in the first place, as they were going concerns or viable entities at the time of being sold to the private sector. It was indeed a grievous error on the part of some past governments to have sold off golden geese such as Ghana Telecom, Black Star Line, and others, as those were strategic assets of state which created job avenues. Our economy in Ghana has a lot of room for growth, as it has not reached anywhere near its efficiency frontier or production possibility curve. If anything, the recent global economic meltdown from to informs us that at one point or the other, state bailouts, subsidies, eleemosynary economics, and public interventions are inescapable, and so-called economic forecasting models of interest rate and inflation targeting, among others, are not exact sciences as they are heavily prone to error in their predictive abilities.
This being the fact that human beings are kaleidoscopic, mercurial, capricious, and unpredictable in their behaviour. South Korea emerged from massive state subventions, guided capitalism, and protectionism in the early years, following the Second World War. Of course, despite the Chaebol, local syndications and cartels which propelled industrial growth in South Korea, they relied heavily on massive external inward investments, mainly from Japan and the USA. Here is where we can rely on inward investments from our Ghanaians in the Diaspora and their investment partners, to make great inroads into the Ghanaian economy, by establishing new businesses.
Friedman had argued that the business of business is business, therefore government had no business doing the business of business because by their very nature of wielding massive power and instruments of coercion, they are likely to abuse it and not pursue the private interests of capitalists and investors, who seek profit maximisation. Governments may cause crowding out effect of private enterprise, by borrowing excessively from the capital and money markets. Countering this argument of non- intervention were friends of J.
Keynes Demand-siders , who believed in Corporate Social Responsibility CSR , who believed that the massive deleterious and negative externalities and social bads created by private businesses, far outweighed their benefits by way of payments in taxes, employment creation, wealth creation, value addition, among others. Thus, Elkingham, Mintzberg, Sternberg and Carroll, among other CSR gurus, took on Friedman and the Supply-siders by arguing that the negative impact of businesses is far in excess of their benefits to society, so they should draw up social compacts and charters, to be good corporate citizens, who would play fair and square, and uphold high ethical and corporate governance standards, though this is not a legally-binding obligation.
Friedman in his view was perhaps re-echoing the ideas of Adam Smith in his treatise, The Wealth of Nations, which was published in , and which marked the genesis of Economics as a discipline. Perhaps, the situation of the emergence of the enormous political clout of the Trade Unions in the docks of Gdansk in Poland, led by Lech Walesa, was a political threat and fiendish incubus, threatening the stability of governments in Western Europe. Sadly enough, the abdication of the state and her abandonment or withdrawal of state support, threw many poor people to the elements and the wild dogs of business, further widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. The ascendancy of capitalism since then, has led to mass exploitation of labour around the world, leading to unethical labour practices in Third World countries such as casualization of labour, loading few workers with work which should be done by many, among other unhealthy labour practices.
Adam Smith had proposed that if individuals pursued their selfish interest of profit maximisation, it eventually redounded and translated into the greater public good for the greater number, or pro bono publicio or sommum bonum. This concept of individual selfish goal maximisation is unfortunately not universally accepted or applicable to countries and cultures in Asia and Africa, where spiritual aspirations and collectivist proclivities are paramount, and they supersede western concepts of individuality, competition, and personal achievement of individual selfish goals, among others.
Developing countries were forced to follow suit if they wanted foreign aid from the multilateral lending institutions. They have not had it easy going since then, in terms of job creation for the youth. That countrywide outfit was conspicuously ubiquitous by their green khaki, military-style uniforms, and sturdy black military boots. Some used their outfit for iniquitous acts, though. They were deployed on farms throughout the country, and they cultivated a lot of crops on state- owned farms. They helped feed the nation. I remember very well some elderly relatives of mine who were seven years ahead of me in school, finding jobs there.
Recently, last month to be specific, we learnt that about 68, candidates out of a total number of , candidates who sat the WASSCE exams in Ghana were successful with passes ranging from 1 distinction to 6 credit. In Nigeria, there were in excess of one million candidates with similar results as Ghana. Where do we take the , candidates who failed? In their view the funds are given to the rich rather than the poor.
Not many people have benefited from the fund because of the low recovery rate of loans which are supposed to be used as revolving funds. Only GHD 8, Farmers had also been encouraged to increase production of maize which is readily bought by Anglogold for its poultry project. This attempt has not been very successful as most farmers are more interested in acquisition of land from Anglogold concession for mining activities. Training programme for the youth in beekeeping, mushroom, snail and grasscutter farming was supported by Anglogold in collaboration with the Municipal Assembly, Ministry of Food and Agriculture and National Youth Council. For example, over the past 10 years, youth were trained in hairdressing, dressmaking and carpentry skills.
One hundred and two of the trainees are now self-employed. The rest are not practising the trade in which they were trained due to lack of capital to set up their own workshops. They were trained over a period of mouths. Most of them have established themselves whilst others due to financial constraints are yet to operate after the training. The Assembly in collaboration with the Department of Community Development and respective trade associations has set up plans to promote and expand the traditional apprenticeship system.
Anglogold Ashanti has also introduced apprenticeship training programme to students in technical schools. The study confirms the assertion that the mining sector which attracts the most Foreign Direct Investment FDI , does not generate directly significant employment Aryeetey,. The massive investment has not been translated into significant increase in employment. Mining companies offer about 20, direct jobs Awudi, Figures on direct employment in all the gold, diamond, manganese and bauxite mines show that employment in the mining sector decreased considerably, despite the substantial FDI inflows and the increase in minerals production GSS, The National Executive Council NEC of the Mine Workers Union has recently expressed concern about the high levels of unemployment in mining communities mainly due to the use of high capacity machines and the lack of employable skills within mining communities Daily Graphic, Other factors leading to unemployment in the mining sector of Ghana are massive lay offs at some mines Akbazaa, , trade liberalization Lee, , migration and the growing numbers of small scale mining Akbazaa, For example, between and , there was a net loss of more than 1, mine jobs in the area.
Akbazaa, Liberalization of the mining sector in Ghana, has generally led to a decrease in employment partly as a result of the new technologies and the labour rationalization introduced into the sector and partly because of the weak linkages of mining with other sectors of the economy Boughzala, ; ILO, ; Lee, In Ghana, an estimated , men, women and children are engaged in artisanal activities in gold, diamond, sand and salt mining. As in other countries, artisanal mining galamsey is a poverty- driven activity which is taken up in the absence of other employment opportunities.
The contention for land by artisanal small scale miners therefore may be the result of frustrations that go with unemployment. Unfortunately, surface mining, also employs relatively few people FIAN, The observations made in the study largely reflect the prevailing conditions in all mining areas in West Africa, and elsewhere. Migration, a basic survival strategy adopted by individuals and families to enable them cope with difficult economic conditions in their place of origin Anarfi. This is a common phenomenon among West African countries Adepoju, This is endorsed by one of the objectives of the ECOWAS to facilitate freedom of movement, residence and employment within the economic community Abudulai, Cross-country migration is therefore witnessed by member countries, for example, as Ghanaians are found in Nigeria, Cote d'lvoire, and Liberia, Burkinabes, Nigerians, and Malians also flock into the country.
Cross-country and rural-urban migration in the country has been largely induced by the expectation of higher wages in the destination region or community and is entirely consistent with the principle of comparative advantage Anarfi The mining areas exemplify this trend. Although some significant work has been done by the OMA and their development partners in areas of employment creation, much still needs to be done. From the respondents' perceptions, the need for advocacy and the intensification of awareness creation public education programmes must be given serious attention by OMA.
Job creation, through the establishment of strong and sustainable programmes aimed at training the youth to acquire the necessary employable skills must also be paramount on OMA's agenda for solving the unemployment problem in the municipality. Much effort must be targeted at street children, prostitutes, illegal operators and the youth who are either unemployed or would drop out of school and enter into the seemingly lucrative illegal mining and prostitution. The general society must be made aware of the causes and effects of the problems, and options available for their resolution. Advocacy on the above will also be important in order to link the communities to potential donors, philanthropists and micro credit institutions.
The objective in advocacy must not only centre on achieving just one-off intervention but must be sustained and centre on continuous assessment of changes in the potentials, opportunities and challenges that the local people face. In an exercise like this, sustainability of initiatives will be partly dependent on the active involvement of key stakeholders including community leaders, public officials and cooperating NGO community. The active involvement of key stakeholders in the design and 12 execution of the project is therefore paramount. The role of OMA as a key partner in this effort will be given prominence through intensive consultation and reporting at all stages of implementation of the project. Appropriate mechanisms are to be established to ensure effective collaboration with relevant local institutions and civil society, in the implementation of the project.
These institutions have experience and capacity in undertaking the awareness creation programmes. Non-governmental organisation NGOs , CBOs, religious bodies that are already operating in the municipality can take up advocacy roles on behalf of the people. Individual citizens with international and national links must also be targeted and encouraged by the assembly to solicit for assistance for the area. The OMA must also play a leading role in lobbying donor agencies to support community initiatives and general development of the area. The advocacy and lobbying must not only be establishing personal contacts but also involve proposal writing to solicit for funding and other support.
The assembly must also ensure proper coordination of the advocacy activities for the area, and that the programmes are diversified. Notwithstanding the efforts made by OMA in providing skill training for the youth as a means of addressing the unemployment problem the strategy has not been sustainable. This has often resulted in a situation where training programmes are not coordinated and activities of trained youth not monitored.
There is the need for future skill training programmes to review the methodology for skill development and technology transfer to make them more sustainable. There is lack of policy framework for ensuring optimal utilisation of labour especially regarding the youth in Ghana and countries in the West African sub-region. There is absolutely no harmonised policy instrument to guard the region in treating internal and cross border labour issues. For example, there is massive movement of labour from northern part of Ghana to the southern region to look for non existence jobs which is creating a lot social problems. Similarly, there is influx of young men and women from Burkina to Ghana to work under very difficult and unethical conditions and vice-versa.
Again, the abysmal performance of local economies of richly endowed localities such as OMA in Ghana appears to confirm the growing notion that in most developing countries especially in Africa, natural resource instead of becoming a blessing rather has brought curse upon the people. A classical situation of global proportion is what is seen in oil rich states of the South Eastern Nigeria, and there are several parallels across West Africa such as in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In this direction, it suggested that policy framework if any exist in the ECOWAS zone should be reviewed to ensure enforcement and compliance in member communities by all stakeholders to ensure that town and cities which are likely to receive massive influx of migrants are given the necessary resources by both the state and investors 13 who are utilising such resources to adequately enable such settlements become true growth poles to other neighbouring settlements but not exude negative impacts to society.
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