The Deputy Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere has said the proliferation of Universities offering similar courses is contributing to the increasing rate of unemployment in the country. Mr. Boasiako-Sekyere believes most universities springing up in the country offer similar programmes and therefore churn out so many graduates with similar expertise without enough jobs to accommodate them. The deputy minister who was contributing to discussions on the high rate of unemployment in the country on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem Monday morning stated that the situation where most graduates come out of school expecting to be absorbed by the formal sector which only employs 15 per cent of the work force, is a major problem that the government has had to grapple with. He indicated that government will create a Labour Market Information Systems that will provide analytics on which sectors of the job market need more workforce and which ones do not. He stressed that such a matrix was necessary to offer the needed direction to the training institutions. Mr. Boasiako-Sekyere said there is also a need to re-engineer the employment sector in order to create jobs internally instead of “exporting jobs” to other countries. He said Ghana imports a lot of rice and other products which in turn creates jobs for the producers of the food. To him, this process can be turned around to benefit Ghanaians if only the country can produce rice in large quantities. Mr. Boasiako-Sekyere said while government focuses on finding a panacea to the unemployment problem in the country, graduates should also consider working in the informal sectors which can be rewarding. Renowned labour expert Austin Gamey, contributing to the discussion on the employment situation, called on young graduates to team up and create viable business plans that can be supported by banks. Mr. Austin Gamey said graduates should look beyond getting employed in the formal sectors as those areas are "choked". He also bemoaned the lack of data on the number of people who are employed both in the formal and informal sectors, insisting that it is very necessary for a system to be crafted to offer job seekers and employers such information. He said gradually governments, the world over, are moving out of business and creating the enabling environment for the private sector to flourish and create the needed jobs. Mr. Gamey therefore advised graduates to concentrate on how they can make use of their training to generate income through self employment. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana