President John Dramani Mahama has opined that that Africa’s rapidly expanding youth population could become a significant challenge if governments fail to generate employment opportunities at an accelerated pace.
He expressed this concern over the escalating rate of youth unemployment during a panel discussion at a Public-Private Partnership Dialogue as part of the ongoing TICAD conference in Japan.
In his remarks, the Ghanaian leader suggested that traditional sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing alone are insufficient to absorb the millions of young people entering the job market annually.
President Mahama added that the creative industry, renewable energy, and digital startups as emerging sectors generating employment at a faster rate than the conventional economy.
“The creative sector and youth start-ups are adding jobs faster than the traditional sectors. If you take the creatives, renewable energy adds about four jobs before you can create one job in agriculture or manufacturing.
“So investing in that sector means that we can absorb more of the myriad of young people who are coming out of school. If we decide to concentrate on manufacturing and industry, Africa needs to create about 12 to 15 million jobs per year.
“You cannot create that in agriculture, manufacturing and industry alone, but the rate at which the creatives and digital space add jobs is much faster than the traditional economy.
“It is a place that we must invest as governments in order that we can absorb more of the youth,” he concluded.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
