Graduate Unemployment In Ghana

 Graduate unemployment has been a topical issue for some time now. Clearly, the phenomenon is not peculiar to Ghana. Rather, it has been a global challenge for several decades bedeviling several or all the nations of the world, developed or developing. This global phenomenon has become more pertinent since 2007 owing to the global economic crunch. Since 2007, there are an estimated 294000 Ghanaian youth currently unemployed!.Graduate unemployment increased by over 4 million totaling about 75 million increasing the global rate to 12.6% (According to the International labor organization, 2012). This rate is expected to increase to 12.9% in 2017 with the current trend of the canker.

Source

For some people, successive governments have not done enough whilst others blame the universities for irrelevant curriculum. Yet others have blamed the graduates for not baking themselves well before graduating. So thus far, it seems the debate has largely been a blame game.

Most of the employers also attribute the source of this issue to the theory based nature of our educational system. They say it's such that, students who come out of the university usually come out half baked, that is, they come out without the practical knowledge of what they learnt.

Also, some employers on the job market think the source of this issue is the few number of vacant jobs serving the increasing number of graduates out there. Most companies still have old staff working due to their relations to management etc.

Way Out

Our educational curriculum must be immediately revised to incorporate skills and enterprise development. A special program should be designed for low-skilled youth in vocational centers'. Incentives should be provided to SMEs that promote student internships. The current state of youth unemployment in Nigeria and the rest of Africa require shared responsibilities to tackle it. It will take the ‘Power of We’ to solve it. Businesses will thrive in a safe and secure society. Government can implement developmental programs only in an atmosphere of peace of security. It is therefore incumbent on government to work closely with the private sector to promote internships, graduate trainee programs, and community-based projects that create jobs for young people. Social Entrepreneurship is a viable tool that can create jobs for many young people.

Also, the government must make provisions to support innovative students who are able to combine their creative skills and academic abilities and knowledge to start themselves up an in the process provide  jobs for other students or graduates.

The government and the  private sector must venture into more business ventures to create more jobs to meet the increasing number of graduates graduating from our tertiary institutions.

Erskine say's, " apart from facts, there is reality!, lets apply what we learn, be innovative, start little things we can do and through that, employ ourselves and create jobs for others"