Government is in the process of establishing a comprehensive Labour Market Information Database for the country, says Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment. He was speaking at a regional seminar for African Researchers Network (ALRN) organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Accra. He said the project would seek to develop a strong and sustainable management information system on the labour market. This would include reliable data on labour market issues such as employment, unemployment rates and training resources. Mr Saddique noted that recent improvements in the country's economic growth had not translated adequately into employment and that unemployment was a major problem especially among women engaged in agriculture. "Although no figures can be quoted now, evidence indicates that there has been an increasing trend towards the expansion of urban informal sector and a decline in opportunities for productive employment in the formal sector," he said. Mr Saddique attributed the problem to weaknesses in the information gaps on the labour market and pledged government's support to strengthen the capacity of institutional weaknesses of agencies responsible for the efficient and effective management of the Labour Market Information System. Ms Sina Chuma-Mkandawire, Director, International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Abuja, Nigeria, said statistics indicated that the youth in Africa were three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and that five out of 10 unemployed were young people. She said the ILO estimated that 44 million young people in Africa, representing 48.7 per cent of all employed youth, did not earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the one dollar a day poverty line. Ms Chuma-Mkandawire commended Ghana's efforts at addressing the unemployment problem, especially the National Youth Employment Programme. Mr Kwesi Adu Amankwa, Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Ghana, said there was the need to establish a think-tank to help complement the efforts of trades unions in Africa. He said research was important for trade unions in Africa to be efficient and commended the ALRN for its efforts. Source: GNA