Employers bemoan lack of essential skills among labour                                                                  

The Ghana Employers Association (GEA) has made fresh appeals for the government to review the course structure at the various educational levels to provide employable skills.

In its latest research, the Employers Association concludes that its members are still faced with the challenge of recruiting critical skills in IT, literacy, team working among others.

While commerce and banking sector are relatively advantaged in recruiting the needed skills, employers in the manufacturing sector are saddled with the challenge of the slow pace of filling vacancies.

Of the 48 firms that were surveyed on filling vacancies over the last four years, the commercial sector led with nine vacancies filled.

This was followed by the banking and finance sector with eight while manufacturing had seven vacancies filled within the last four years.

While mining and private security filled a vacancy each, the utility and airways recorded no vacancy over the last four years.

Meanwhile, the professional occupations such as lawyers and accountants recorded the highest number of exits followed by services and related workers.

Managers recorded the least number of exits of nine percent.

Among the reasons for these exits was the continuous search for jobs that maximize employees’ well-being.

In the meantime, majority of vacancies for technical and associate professionals, skilled plant and machine operators were recorded in the manufacturing sector while vacancies in the commerce, banking, and commercial centres mainly centered on professional occupations.

In correcting this rather worrying trend, the Ghana Employers Association has suggested that government supports the design of the technical and IT courses that involve both practice and theory to build the cognitive abilities of the labour force.

Also, that the National Service Secretariat matches personnel to institutions that provide services in the personnel’s field of study.

For the CEO of the Ghana Employers Association, Mr. Alex Frimpong, potential employees need to be proactive as employers will always pay for skills, not certificates.

“They should be very versatile and conversant with IT. They should also understand how to manage data; compiling, analyzing, interpreting data because numeracy skills are very important…We are engaged in an organization to solve problems so if you cannot solve problems, then we are not paying you for your certificates.”

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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana.

The Ghana Employers Association (GEA) has made fresh appeals for the government to review the course structure at the various educational levels to provide employable skills. In its latest research, the Employers Association concludes that its members are still faced with the challenge of recruiting critical skills in IT, literacy, team working among others. While ... Read Full Story