In line with its mandate to create jobs for the youth of the country, the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has announced the opening of an employment portal under its Artisanal Trades and Vocation Module to create sustainable jobs for the teem­ing unemployed youth.

The Agency envisions to employ a minimum of 20,000 artisans under the pro­gramme over two years. This is commendable and if prop­erly executed, the benefits thereof would be enormous.

According to the Agen­cy, the module is aimed at addressing the age-old youth unemployment which has been classified as a ticking national security threat.

It is important to indicate that this is not the only employment module that the agency is pursuing. Some of the other modules include Youth in Trades and Vocation model, Brick moulding and laying with BRRI, Business Support Programme, and Youth in Agric amongst others.

The model, the agency said, would be run in collaboration with a multi-industry private sector player that was duly registered and licensed in Ghana, under a public-private partnership (PPP) arrange­ment.

The Ghanaian Times com­mends the YEA for this initiative to offer sustain­able jobs to would-be-lucky 20,000 young men and women and ultimately offer them the opportunity to earn incomes to contribute mean­ingfully to national develop­ment.

The nation has over the years struggled to create jobs for the youth and unemploy­ment continues to be a major challenge for the country. It is against this backdrop that we agree with those who argue that the rippling effect on these initiatives would be enormous as it would not only improve the lives of the would-be beneficiaries but also their dependants, families, and communities.

While commending the YEA, we would encourage it to expand its scope to cap­ture much more unemployed youth in areas that are not included in the categories ear­marked for the programme.

This category of the unemployed population is largely graduates, profession­als like teachers, and nurses whose services and demands remain crucial to the human development of the country.

We make this proposal because for example, in April this year, a group of unem­ployed physician assistants picketed at the Ministry of Health and demanded that they be posted after completing their studies in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Their colleague teacher trainees and nurses have also in the past expressed the same frustration of joblessness.

Per the International La­bour Organisation’s report on Ghana for 2022, graduate un­employment stood at 12 percent with only five percent securing jobs a year after their mandatory national service.

We hope that these initia­tives will be embraced by the youth so that they can yield the desired results. This is a major step forward in the nation’s quest to create jobs for the citizenry. Other agencies must emulate YEA to create decent jobs for all.

These innovations are commendable and hope that the YEA and other agencies that are in the business of job creation will get the full support of the government and all stakeholders so that their efforts will not be in vain.