Mr Alhassan Azong, Minister of Public Sector Reforms has said a report from the annual Global Employment Trends released by the International Labour Organisation indicates that unemployment rose by 4.2 million in 2012.

The report estimated that about 74 million people in the 15 to 24 age group are unemployed around the world. Mr Azong made this known at the Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) work readiness programme stakeholders conference in Accra on the theme: “Creating Jobs Through Impact Sourcing Stakeholder Meeting.”

He said youth unemployment has become a major problem worldwide, adding that the phenomenon calls for concerted efforts from government, industry players and civil society. This he said, requires conscious policy measures and dedicated policy implementation.

He said government would continue to create the enabling environment by designing and implementing policies that are favorable to industries and ensure that the market and industry act responsibly to encourage investors into the country.

Mr Al-hassan Umar, Director of ITES said the body was created under the Ministry of Communications to be responsible for branding and packaging the country and generating youth employment.

He said ITES is supported by Rockefeller Foundation for identifying Impact Sourcing as potential skills development, provision of job opportunities and reduction of poverty.

Mr Umar said the objective of the Impact Sourcing is to employ poor and vulnerable people with limited opportunity for sustainable employment as principle workers in business process outsourcing centres.

He said the Impact Sourcing also enables businesses to access services at a lower cost and for that matter enhancing the fortunes of industry. Mr Umar said Business Processes Outsourcing (BPO) has huge opportunities for economic growth for developing countries to reduce youth unemployment and poverty.

He said report on Impact Sourcing Conference 2011, indicate that there would be an increased demand for services related to customer management BPO, Human Resource Outsourcing, banking, and billing BPO services and supply management BPOs into 2015.

He said the ITES programme has trained youth in digital records, communication skills, Microsoft skills, entrepreneur skills and has provided employment to the youth by digitising records at the Birth and Death Registry, Ghana Revenue Authority and the Registrar Generals Department.