Youth employment and entrepreneurship remain government’s priority – Labour Minister 

Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, said youth employment and entrepreneurship remain the government’s top priority hence the creation of avenues to provide job opportunities for them.

He said the roll-out of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, Nation Builders Corps, Youth Employment Programme, One-District-One Factory, and Planting for Food and Jobs were a few of such avenues.

The establishment of the National Employment Coordinating Committee would play a significant role in bringing together all stakeholders in the employment-generating sectors to deliberate on the way forward, he said.

Mr Baffour-Awuah was speaking in Sunyani at the ‘Ghana Job Fair 2022 (Green Edition),’ on the theme: “Connecting Talents and Opportunities.”

The two-day fair is under the auspices of the Ghanaian German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration, in collaboration with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

It is being supported by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Ghana, with funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.

It provides a platform for job seekers to acquire skills and tools to enhance their creativity and employability.

Mr Baffour-Awuah said the Ghana Job Fair was anchored on the government’s agenda of; Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for all (2017-2024), and since its inception in 2018 a significant number of jobseekers had gained employment.

He said of the more than 10,000 participants in the previous job fairs, 47 per cent were jobseekers, 39 per cent were individuals interested in training opportunities for entrepreneurship, digital economy and technology, and 14 per cent were in search of employable skills.

Out of the 1,455 declared job vacancies, 561 were qualified for placement with 358 being males and 203 females.

Mr Awuah said the government, between 2017 and 2021, created an estimated 5,306,899 jobs, both formal and informal, and assured that it would continue to roll out programmes for decent employment outcomes.

Ms Favour Carlos, a graduate of the University of Energy and Natural Resources, who majored in Information Technology, told the Ghana News Agency that she expected to meet companies that were hiring and hopefully get a job.