The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research, a Kenyan-based research organization, as part of efforts to mitigate unemployment in Ghana and Africa as a whole, is conducting research on the diverse factors accounting for the increased unemployment among the youth.

According to the Ghana living Standards Survey, Ghana currently faces a youth unemployment rate of 12.6% with a 49.2% rate of youth underemployment.

Although the onset of COVID-19 has proven to be a major contributory factor to the increasing rate, it is believed that the lack of job experience is also a reason.

In an interview with JoyNews, Executive Director of the Organization, Anthony Mveyange, said “we need to engage the youth, get to understand their challenges and what can be done to support them.”

“We also need to engage the relevant institutions; government, private sector and civil societies, who will be able to come together and think about what the challenges are,” he added.

At a stakeholders meeting organized by the group on Thursday, Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority Pius Hadzide, explained that the public sector must be equipped in order to service the private sector, as the private sector handles 92% of the employable population.

“The states capacity to employ doesn’t resolve the challenge of unemployment. In our view as the national Youth Authority, we believe that it is to make the public Sector effective, to be able to service an efficient private sector.”

The organization, through this research, is hoping to propose appropriate solutions to eradicate the challenge.