Ghana - Job Creation and Skills Development

Ghana - Job Creation and Skills Development
Author: Weltbank
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN:

According to Government, Ghana is facing many challenges in the area of skill development and job creation. The Government is particularly concerned with: (i) unemployment among the youth (6.1 percent in 2005 for 15-24 years old), which has been attributable to the rapid population growth rate of the youth, the rapid urbanization rate, the quality of labor supply, and low labor absorption rate of the economy; and (ii) the external efficiency of the education training system and its ability to supply the skills demanded by a diversified and competitive economy. Moreover, other related concerns include: channeling economic growth toward creating jobs, including 'good jobs'; better understanding the functioning of the informal sector; explaining the mismatch between skills development and jobs; improving labor market indicators; monitoring and evaluating employment programs' outcomes; reviewing the role of labor market regulations in job creation; and reforming technical vocational education and training (TVET) systems. The key objective of Ghana's development policy is to accelerate economic growth and put the creation of new and better jobs at the center of the Government agenda. In this context, and complementing the recent Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) and earlier Bank's work on youth employment, this report addresses labor market challenges that Ghana is facing, particularly as it strives for middle income status by 2015. This report: (a) briefly reviews the determinants of labor demand; (b) analyzes labor market outcomes based on recent survey data; (c) reviews the role of labor policies, institutions and programs; and (d) examines education and skills development policies and their links to labor market outcomes.

Expanding Job Opportunities in Ghana

Expanding Job Opportunities in Ghana
Author: Maddalena Honorati
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2016-10-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464809429

Ghana was, until very recently, a success story in Africa, achieving high and sustained growth and impressive poverty reduction. However, Ghana is now facing major challenges in diversifying its economy, sustaining growth, and making it more inclusive. Most of the new jobs that have been created in the past decade have been in low-earning, low-productivity trade services. Macroeconomic instability, limited diversification and growing inequities in Ghana’s labor markets make it harder for the economy to create more jobs, and particularly, better jobs. Employment needs to expand in both urban areas, which will continue to grow rapidly, and rural areas, where poverty is still concentrated. The current fiscal and economic crisis is heightening the need for urgent reforms but limiting the room for maneuver and increasing pressure for a careful prioritization of policy actions. Going forward, Ghana will need to consider an integrated jobs strategy that addresses barriers to the business climate, deficiencies in skills, lack of competitiveness of job-creating sectors, problems with labor mobility, and the need for comprehensive labor market regulation. Ghana needs to diversify its economy through gains in productivity in sectors like agribusiness, transport, construction, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) services. Productivity needs to be increased also in agriculture, in order to increase the earnings potential for the many poor who still work there. In particular, Ghana’s youth and women need help in connecting to these jobs, through relevant skills development and services that target gaps in information about job opportunities. Even with significant effort, most of Ghana’s population will continue to work in jobs characterized by low and fluctuating earnings for the foreseeable future, however, and they will need social safety nets that help them manage vulnerability to income shortfalls. More productive and inclusive jobs will help Ghana move to a second phase of structural transformation and develop into a modern middle-income economy.

Youth Employment Programs in Ghana

Youth Employment Programs in Ghana
Author: Christabel Dadzie
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2020-09-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464815798

Unemployment and underemployment are global development challenges. The situation in Ghana is no different. In 2016, it was projected that, given the country’s growing youth population, 300,000 new jobs would need to be created each year to absorb the increasing numbers of unemployed young people. Yet the employment structure of the Ghanaian economy has not changed much from several decades ago. Most jobs are low skill, requiring limited cognitive or technology know-how, reflected in low earnings and work of lower quality. An additional challenge for Ghana is the need to create access to an adequate number of high-quality, productive jobs. This report seeks to increase knowledge about Ghana’s job landscape and youth employment programs to assist policy makers and key stakeholders in identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of these programs and strengthen coordination among major stakeholders. Focused, strategic, short- to medium-term and long-term responses are required to address current unemployment and underemployment challenges. Effective coordination and synergies among youth employment programs are needed to avoid duplication of effort while the country’s economic structure transforms. Effective private sector participation in skills development and employment programs is recommended. The report posits interventions in five priority areas that are not new but could potentially make an impact through scaling up: (1) agriculture and agribusiness, (2) apprenticeship (skills training), (3) entrepreneurship, (4) high-yielding areas (renewable energy†“solar, construction, tourism, sports, and green jobs), and (5) preemployment support services. Finally, with the fast-changing nature of work due to technology and artificial intelligence, Ghana needs to develop an education and training system that is versatile and helps young people to adapt and thrive in the twenty-first century world of work.

Demand and Supply of Skills in Ghana

Demand and Supply of Skills in Ghana
Author: Peter Darvas
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2014-07-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464802815

Skills development in Ghana encompasses foundational skills, transferable/soft-skills, and technical and vocational skills. This report focuses on one segment of this skills development system: formal and informal technical and vocational education and training (TVET) at the pre-tertiary level. TVET represents a major intersection between education, youth and the labor market. The government has long promised to the population that increasing technical and vocational skills training opportunities will help solve youth unemployment. However, market distortions and inefficiencies have led to an adverse cycle of high costs, inadequate quality of supply and low demand, leading to further pressures on the effectiveness and efficiency of TVET services. This adverse cycle means that the political and policy promise of skills development helping to ease the unemployment problem is at risk of remaining unfulfilled. The report focuses on social and economic demand for (pre-tertiary) technical and vocational skills and maps out the supply of these skills from formal and informal, private and public sectors. The dual purpose has been to both carry out an institutional and policy analysis and also to establish a platform for monitoring sector performance and assisting policy and Development Partner harmonization. The report analyzes the economic and social demand for technical and vocational skills and the suitability of the current supply as well as the effectiveness of policy, coordination and financing of technical and vocational skills development. The report annex provides the summary of economic demand analyses from the key sectors reviewed and provides a full mapping of all technical and vocational programs in Ghana. The study offers a comprehensive set of policy recommendations for improving Ghana’s pre-tertiary technical and vocational skills development sector, which will be of interest to policy makers and development partners in Ghana.

Made in Africa

Made in Africa
Author: Carol Newman
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2016-02-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0815728166

Why is there so little industry in Africa? Over the past forty years, industry has moved from the developed to the developing world, yet Africa’s share of global manufacturing has fallen from about 3 percent in 1970 to less than 2 percent in 2014. Industry is important to low-income countries. It is good for economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction. Made in Africa: Learning to Compete in Industry outlines a new strategy to help African industry compete in global markets. This book draws on case studies and econometric and qualitative research from Africa and emerging Asia to understand what drives firm-level competitiveness in low-income countries. The results show that while traditional concerns such as infrastructure, skills, and the regulatory environment are important, they alone will not be sufficient for Africa to industrialize. The book also addresses how industrialization strategies will need to adapt to the region’s growing resource abundance.

Job Creation and Local Economic Development 2020 Rebuilding Better

Job Creation and Local Economic Development 2020 Rebuilding Better
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2020-11-23
Genre:
ISBN: 9264446230

The impact of COVID-19 on local jobs and workers dwarfs those of the 2008 global financial crisis. The 2020 edition of Job Creation and Local Economic Development considers the short-term impacts on local labour markets as well as the longer-term implications for local development.

Job Creation and Local Economic Development

Job Creation and Local Economic Development
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2014-11-19
Genre:
ISBN: 926421500X

This publication highlights new evidence on policies to support job creation, bringing together the latest research on labour market, entrepreneurship and local economic development policy to help governments support job creation in the recovery.