“We are not expanding as a business in recent times because of the current macroeconomic environment, and the best thing to do now is to try and keep the little that we have”, Alex Frimpong added.
“We don’t have the requisite vacancies to employ all these people and this has nothing to do with the quality of graduates coming out of our institutions”, Mr. Frimpong added.
He stated that firms are failing, and the necessary growth to accommodate these graduates is not occurring.
He also stated that the employment market is changing since most businesses are not willing to hire and train these young graduates, preferring to hunt for certain talents to fill open positions.
The Ghana Employers Association CEO was responding to the Ghana Statistical Service’s latest unemployment data, which showed significant unemployment among graduates and those with higher education.
Some argue that the majority of these graduates are now seeking better working conditions and more pay, exacerbating the unemployment problem.
According to Mr. Frimpong, firms are not recruiting these graduates because of their high salaries, but because of a shortage of space.
“We should realise that the formal sector is not expanding that much to take on all these persons coming from the formal education sector”, Mr. Frimpong added.
Seth Twum Akwaboah, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Ghana Industries, stated that the manufacturing industry is searching for graduates with abilities rather than their degree of education.
“So don’t think that because you have a PhD, automatically you should command this level of salary and working condition”, he explained.
“For us, it’s about the skills and what you are bringing to the business and the manufacturing firms”, he added.
