NDC unveils strategy to create 1.7m jobs

 The National Democrat­ic Congress (NDC) has launched a comprehensive strategy to create 1.7 million jobs between 2025 and 2029 to address the rising unemployment crisis.

The initiative is expected to absorb the expected 300,000 yearly entrants into the workforce and re­duce current unemployment levels by 120,000 each year.

The Party’s Employment and Jobs Creation Committee an­nounced the initiative at a briefing on Monday in Accra.

The chairman of the party’s Employment and Jobs Creation Committee, Mr Goosie Tanoh, in a press statement said the NDC would achieve the milestone through five pillars, including mod­ernising and revamping employ­ment institutions and legislation focused on job creation.

The party said it would imple­ment what it termed as “Aspire 24” programme to reorient employer and employee mindsets and imple­ment the “National Employment Trust” to mobilise resources for “concerted jobs push”.

Other initiatives include the implementation of the “Level­ling Up” programme to ensure inclusiveness in employment, and coordination through a high-level “National Employment Coordina­tion Committee”.

The NDC said it would mod­ernise the Legal and Institutional Environment to accelerate decent job creation.

“This will include accelerated implementation of the Ghana La­bour Market Information System, updating the Labour Bill 2024 into an Employment Act to replace the existing Labour Act 2023, and putting in place a Bilateral Labour migration framework to support safe, orderly and regular labour migration of Ghanaians to other countries, facilitate access to decent work abroad, and ensure respect for human rights and fundamental labour rights for Ghanaian workers who migrate,” it said.

The Party said the proposed “As­pire 24” programme would equip Ghanaian workers and enterprises with the values, mindset, skills, tools, work ethic, and incentives to increase productivity and thrive in the 24-hour Economy.

“With deliberate and painstaking policy interventions anchored on the 24-hour economy, we aim to create 1.7 million jobs between 2025 and 2029 and systematically reduce unemployment to below 5 per cent by 2034, if not earlier,” the Party said.

Among these, the party men­tioned the establishment of the Women’s Bank, reform and enhancement of pensions for workers in the informal sector, and provision of digital skills for persons with disabilities.

“Finally, we will set up the Na­tional Employment Coordination Committee with representatives from the Government, Labour, Employers, Students, and the Informal Sector to support the Minister of Employment in coordi­nating, implementing, We are very much aware of the challenges to creating a robust employment eco­system, considering the economy’s decay,” it concluded.