Chairman of the National Development Planning Committee, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, has urged the government to place small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the centre of the 24-hour economy to accelerate job creation.

He said while the government has made efforts to attract and line up investments in large businesses, greater attention must now be given to smaller businesses to ensure the flagship programme delivers across the economy.

“My expectation is that in the next two years, they will focus more on the SMEs also, so that you cover the whole spectrum. You don’t put all your eggs in the big businesses per se,” he said on Joy News' PM Express on Wednesday.

Dr Thompson said large businesses require time before their investments begin to have a significant impact.

“Their time will come,” he said, stressing the need for the government to simultaneously strengthen support for existing businesses.

According to him, the analysis conducted before the adoption of the 24-hour economy showed that existing businesses are critical to job creation.

“From our understanding, there are efforts underway to handle that aspect of it, so that, because you may recall that the 24-hour economy was associated with job creation, and this is one aspect of it that I believe is yet to gather speed as much as it should.”

Dr Thompson said the focus must not only be on creating new jobs but also on improving the quality of existing employment.

He explained that job creation includes measuring the number of jobs created against those lost over a period to determine net job creation.

“Now, what do we mean by job creation? There are two things: one is the creation of new jobs, net jobs. So you look at one period, you look at jobs that are created over that period, and then the jobs that we lost over that period; that is net job creation.”

He added that Ghana’s employment challenge goes beyond unemployment, with underemployment and poor-quality work also requiring attention.

“But we also have a problem of not just unemployment in Ghana, but also underemployment, poor quality of work.”

Dr Thompson therefore expects the government to make improving existing jobs another key priority over the next two years.

“So the issue of dealing with the quality of existing jobs is one of those legs that I expect them to work on in the next two years.”

He also disclosed that the 24-hour economy itself originated from the 48 Development Plan, although the plan was not legislated in its entirety.

“Actually, the 24-hour economy came from the 48 Development Plan. It’s one of the few things that have actually come out of it.”

He said several other initiatives also emerged from the plan, including the Ministry of Sports and Recreation and the proposed Ghana Agency for Development Cooperation.