UNEMPLOYMENT IN OUR SOCIETY, WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
Every year, thousands of Ghanaian youth graduate from various universities, colleges and polytechnics. These hardworking and talented youth expect to find employment and a stable source of income welcoming them after spending several years in a tertiary institution. And honestly, why won’t they? The Ghanaian educational system is surprisingly very expensive for an economy like ours. So after spending thousands of Ghana Cedis in school, one would expect the government to fulfill her end of the bargain and get us something to do. Well, as you would guess, this doesn’t usually happen. These hopeful young men and women just come to add to the pile of the unemployed graduates before them. Every now and then, the government manages to employ a few people after weeks of demonstrations and picketing. Even then, these are usually people who have undertaken professional courses such as Nursing, Teaching, Medicine, etc.
Consider this statistics as of two years ago:
More than 1.2 million persons from 15 years and older are estimated to be unemployed, representing the total unemployment rate of 11.9%, according to the Labour Force Survey Report.Of this number, about 714,916 are females, representing 57.2 per cent and 535,997 for males representing 42.8%.
Over the past few years, the government has made significant effort to arrest this situation. However, there is still a lot to be to be done. At this juncture, I have no doubt that it is the private sector that can diffuse the current unemployment situation in the country. Imagine that 25% of the currently unemployed youth were to start up their own businesses and to employ at least 3 of their colleagues. That would be like creating jobs for everyone. Of course it is not as easy as it sounds. Instead of struggling to create jobs for everyone, the government should instead create an environment that makes it easier for people to create their own jobs. Supporting policies could be formulated to smoothen the journey for start-ups. For example, the government could give new businesses a 3-year tax holiday. This would enable young entrepreneurs to plough back their profits into expanding their businesses.
At the individual level, while we wait for the government to come around, it is important for us to make efforts towards improving our lives. The truth is, most people just complain that there are no jobs but they are not ready to do anything about it. I always say that success is never handed to anyone, if you want it, then you have to earn it. Let’s take me for example, I am a 25 year old Ghanaian, I have attained my first degree and am currently pursuing a professional doctorate. I do not have or expect a ready employment from the government. So when I heard about steemit, I figured it was a good opportunity for me to do something that I enjoyed while earning alongside it. I like to create good and useful content and steemit provides this platform for me. There are a lot of guys I signed up with who have long given up. And while I agree that steemit is not for everyone, there is nothing that is for everyone. We all just need to identify that one thing we can do and make the required efforts.
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Together we can create opportunities for our fellow countrymen.
Keep an eye on team @accra we are working on a basic income system for our members!
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