Lower Inflation Does Not Mean More Jobs...Says Barclays bank MD

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday January 12, 2010.
The Managing Director of Barclays Bank Limited, Benjamin Tettey Dabrah has stated that lower inflation and interest rates do not automatically mean more job opportunities for the youth.

Whilst acknowledging initiatives such as the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), Mr. Dabrah said a lot more needs to be done to address the issue of youth unemployment, noting “young people have a hard time in the Ghanaian job market, with inadequate education and skills and few opportunities, most Ghanaian youth face a future of low-wage employment, unemployment and underemployment.”

The Barclays Bank MD was speaking on the topic, “Harnessing the power of the youth for accelerated development” at the formal opening of the 62nd annual New Year School and Conference at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra on Monday.

He said the expansion of employment opportunities is far below the growth in the youth population because of a lack of appropriate technologies and investment saying “for example, our continued dependence on rain-fed agriculture causes much underemployment among rural youth for most part of the year and as a result, young people consciously decide to move to the towns in the hope of greater chances for employment thereby causing massive urban drift.”

Commenting on entrepreneurship, Mr. Dabrah said there is an urgent need to review the financial infrastructure and incentive structure to encourage financial institutions to provide funding for young entrepreneurs.

He also said that through mentoring schemes, internships and other training opportunities, young people could gain an insight into setting up and running a business and avoid the potential pitfalls in the real world of business.

On education and training, the Barclays Bank MD said there is an urgent need to redesign the curricula at all levels to suit the changing needs of the labour market or alternatively to combine formal education with work based training.

He called for youth participation in economic decision-making adding “the only way we can address the issues militating against young Ghanaians contributing fully towards the development of our nation is for the government to prioritize the youth in policy-making.”

“Young people in Ghana have enormous potential that could be harnessed for promoting economic development. Governments and policy-makers therefore need to focus policy initiatives and resources on improving the leadership role of Ghanaian youth.”

He said the success of such interventions would depend on the participation of the youth in all aspects of the public policy process from the crafting of economic policies to implementation and subsequently monitoring and evaluation.