Rising unemployment rate a threat to national security
Former President Mahama has bemoaned the alarming rate of youth unemployment in the country.
Delivering a speech on the theme “Ghana at a Crossroad” on Monday, May 02, 2022, the former leader intimated that the current trend if not arrested will lead to millions of Ghanaian youth reaching the retirement age unemployed.
“Millions of Ghanaian youth with higher education, are trapped in the situation of a permanent purgatory with no clear indication that they can obtain gainful employment before they turn 60 years and retire from unemployment. Yet the President continues to fritter away the taxpayer’s precious money on a luxurious chartered flight and other wasteful engagements,” he stated.
He further complained that the problem threatens the security of the nation as most social vices on the rise are attributed to joblessness in the country.
According to official data. Ghana’s unemployment rate hit 13.4 per cent in 2021, up from 6 per cent in 2010,
Also, data released by the Ghana Statistical Service shows that 32.8 per cent of Ghanaians aged 15 to 24 are unemployed.
However, the 2020 Presidential Candidate of the opposition NDC maintained that the ordinary Ghanaian has been subjected to excruciating hardship by the Akufo-Addo-led administration.
He said: “…the frustration of the Ghanaian people is at an all-time high, adding the condescending responses from government officials to public complaints have often accentuated the frustration and anger of the people.”
He then advised the government to take measures to reduce prevailing economic hardship in the country.
