Accra, Sept. 24, GNA - A consultant with the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Wednesday urged government to see employment creation as a critical factor in the quest to improve economic growth and accelerate development.

Mr Kwaku Osei-Bonsu, the Consultant, said economic growth would only be meaningful when it moved hand in hand with job creation to avoid people being trapped into poverty with the consequences of increased social insecurity.

He was speaking at a day's workshop to examine how focusing on infrastructure development in small and medium sized enterprises could help generate decent jobs.

The workshop on the theme: "Promoting The Use Of Labour-Based Technology In Infrastructural Development," is one in a series of many being held under the auspices of the ILO supported Ghana Decent Work Pilot Programme.

It is to help map out strategies on the use of locally available human and material resources in the implementation of rural and urban infrastructure works as well as examine the barriers to mainstreaming local resource based approaches in infrastructure works.

Mr Osei-Bonsu said the situation in which most countries in the past concentrated all their policy efforts on ensuring economic growth without clearly defined social programmes had led to the rising level of unemployment in those countries.

He said as a first step to reversing the anomaly, governments in these countries needed to focus on reducing their employment deficit as well as enhance working conditions and income security. He cited the infrastructure sector, which takes up between 50 and 70 per cent of public investment funds each year, as a key area in which jobs could be created by making use of labour as the predominant resource in projects whiles ensuring cost effectiveness and safe guarding quality.

Mr Osei-Bonsu said by simply using more people instead of machines to support infrastructural work could help create immediate and long-term employment and income for the poor through maintenance, development and operation of infrastructure.

Mr Yaw Barimah, Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, said the new Labour Bill currently awaiting Presidential Assent would address key issues relating to employer and employee relations. "It may not be a perfect one to meet everyone's expectation but would certainly serve as a legislation to guide both the labour front and employers," he said.

Mr Barimah said the decent Work Programme aims to create equal opportunity for both men and women, promote social dialogue and protect the rights of all at work.