According to him, the high unemployment rate was the first in the history of Ghana.
Delivering a speech at the graduation ceremony of the Academic City University College over the weekend, Mr Mahama stated that there were no ready jobs for graduates, as this situation mostly renders these graduates unemployed for years.
He said, unlike his time, there were jobs available and for those interested in teaching, an automatic posting was done for them.
The former president further said several people were retained after their national service but the narrative, he said, has changed in recent times.
He stated that the local economy was in shambles.
While delivering his speech, he said, “We left the university gates and walked into ready jobs waiting for us. There was automatic posting if you wanted to go into teaching. Many of us were retained and absorbed into workplaces where we had been posted for National Service...Our colleagues who made first class were quickly snapped up by prestigious banks and private corporations like UAC, Lever Brothers, now Unilever, and Standard Chartered Bank as management trainees."
“There are no ready jobs to absorb you. It may take years for you to find decent employment. There are cases of students who remain unemployed five years after completing university. Unemployment in Ghana is at its highest in history today, estimated at 13%. Our economy is in crisis. The closure of indigenous banks and the banking sector cleanout have led to the loss of several jobs," John Dramani Mahama stated.
Meanwhile, a report released by the Ghana Statistical Service in May 2023 indicates that 1.76 million persons were unemployed in the third quarter of 2022.
Within this population, two out of every three unemployed persons were females.
ESA/OGB
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John Dramani Mahama