BRIEF HISTORY OF THE YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AGENCY (YEA)

Unemployment among the youth is a global menace of which Ghana is no exception. In Ghana, the scourge predates the 4th Republican dispensation. But it is an incontrovertible fact that it manifested the more following the divestiture of State –Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Corporations during the revolutionary era in the mid 1980’s as part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalities.

Statistics available indicate that on yearly basis an estimated 100,000 youth graduate from the various tertiary institutions in the country unto the competitive job market which cannot recruit 10% of that population.

Efforts to address the unemployment menace confronting the youth in Ghana became rife

Considering the situation a national security risk, successive governments in the 4th Republican dispensation have made efforts towards addressing this hydra-headed problem. The Kufour administration set the pace and took a bold step in 2001 and undertook a nationwide registration of unemployed youth to have a good understanding of the nature and scope of the unemployment situation to deal decisively with it.