Turn to the informal sector for employment – young graduates told

Ghana’s employment market is choked; but not for those seeking jobs in the informal sector, says Prof. Imoro Braimah of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Public sector institutions are no longer offering placements, especially to young graduates – majority of these graduates, including teachers and medical personnel, are challenged in getting job postings.

The private sector remains the most viable employment avenue for young graduates hoping to venture the job market – yet most formal private sector enterprises are also constrained in engaging more production hands as they struggle to compete with cheap imports.

But opportunities exist for young graduates in the informal sector to be gainfully employed, says Prof. Imoro Braimah, Provost of the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the KNUST.

“I wish that we have more of our graduates going into the informal sector. A lot of them shy away from the informal sector; they think that for the informal sector you only pick it if you have no option,” he observed.

The lecturer however says the few who venture the informal sector often “make successes and they find out that after all its better to be an employer than to be an employee and they stay there”.

The Economics Department of the KNUST has set out to expose students to tenets that can set them apart to be gainfully employed, including the organization of Job Fair, which offers links up students with potential employers to better appreciate mutual interests on the job market.

“As students of economics, we teach them to be critical thinkers, so they’ll be able to know the relationship between the different situations and the best solution,” stated Dr. Sis Eugenia Amporfu, Head of the Economics Department.

She says such analytical orientation should enable the students to work in differs sectors and environments.

Prof. Imoro Braimah is particularly enthused at the rate of female students excelling in economics.

He believes the private sector, especially the informal sector, has better opportunities for female graduates of economics, as they have the knowledge and skills for value addition in the sector.

The informal economy is often comprised of self-employment in small unregistered enterprises and wage employment.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh