The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee and Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has proposed a five-point strategy to address Ghana’s growing youth unemployment crisis, warning that existing interventions are failing to deliver the desired results.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, June 11, 2026, Oppong Nkrumah described youth unemployment as one of Ghana’s most pressing socio-economic challenges and called for urgent, practical, and measurable reforms to reverse the trend.
“Mr. Speaker, we do not need more slogans or promises that results are in the pipeline. We need a more effective architecture to solve the worsening youth unemployment problem in our country. Data from the Statistical Service is clear. The youth unemployment problem is getting worse. The time to act is now,” he said.
The Ofoase-Ayirebi MP cited data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), indicating that unemployment among persons aged 15 to 24 increased from 32% in December 2024 to 32.5% by the third quarter of 2025.
He further noted that nearly two million young Ghanaians are currently neither in education, employment, nor training, while almost half of the youth population in the Greater Accra Region remains unemployed.
While acknowledging efforts by successive governments to address the issue, Oppong Nkrumah stressed that the country must move beyond rhetoric and focus on solutions capable of generating sustainable and meaningful employment opportunities.
“Ghanaian youth do not want slogans. They want feasible programmes that create dignified, productive and well-paid jobs,” he stated.
As part of his proposals, the former Information Minister called for the publication of delivery scorecards for all government job creation programmes. According to him, employment initiatives should be evaluated using clear performance indicators, including the number of beneficiaries, cost per job created, employment retention rates, and placement outcomes.
“Anchor every job programme to a published delivery scorecard with clear metrics on beneficiaries, cost per job created, time-to-placement and employment retention,” he urged.
Oppong Nkrumah also advocated a clear distinction between skills training programmes and actual job creation initiatives, arguing that training alone cannot solve unemployment if beneficiaries are unable to secure jobs afterward.
He further proposed increased private sector participation in employment generation, urging the government to focus on reducing investment risks, co-investing in strategic sectors, and creating a favourable regulatory environment that encourages private capital to drive large-scale job creation.
Additionally, the MP recommended making apprenticeship programmes the foundation of Ghana’s youth employment strategy through national certification systems, employer incentives, and structured pathways into employment or entrepreneurship.
He also called for the establishment of a credible Labour Market Information System to provide accurate and timely data on job vacancies, skills gaps, and labour demand across the country.
According to him, such a system would support evidence-based policymaking and improve the alignment between education, training, and labour market needs.
“We do not need more slogans or promises that results are in the pipeline. We need a more effective architecture to solve the worsening youth unemployment problem of our country,” he reiterated.
Oppong Nkrumah concluded by urging policymakers and stakeholders to embrace bold, accountable, and measurable reforms to create opportunities for Ghana’s growing youth population and tackle the unemployment challenge head-on.