She said that to bridge this gap, about 300,000 jobs needed to be created for new entrants into the job market while 450,000 new jobs needed to be created altogether.
The paper identified challenges with youth employment in Ghana as a result of a skills mismatch between what young people studied and what employers were looking for, weak school-to-work transition frameworks, and career guidance because school leavers did not have any job experience. It noted that the National Service Secretariat (NSS) which was the largest work transit scheme was fraught with  challenges such as placement in areas graduates had not studied, or, in departments in which they had no experience.

Others were the neglect of youth in education, training, and the concentration of youth in Accra and the informal sectors.

Ms. Iddrisu noted that past and current government administrations had, however, put in laudable efforts to address these. These efforts include mass public programmes and initiatives such as NABCO (The Nation Builders Corps  Programme) with about 100,000 beneficiaries and YEA (Youth Employment Agency) with about 130,000 beneficiaries.

She said that potential solutions that the paper identified which could address unemployment challenges were; bridging the gap in skills mismatch through well-structured collaboration, the creation of job  centres and hubs to centralize access to information on jobs, and revamping the NSS to address school-to-work transition challenges among others. Ms. Iddrisu also urged the inclusion of the private sector in the school-to-work transition.

Ms. Christabel Dadzie, an International Development Specialist called for a focus on turning the number of unemployed young people in Ghana into an opportunity for the country. She urged pre-employment support activities within school systems such as internships.

Mr. Ambrose Junior Entsiwah, Volta Regional Director of the National Service Secretariat, said that the NSS had been working to address the skills mismatch. He, however, noted that some graduates developed a skills interest when sent into an industry they had no previous experience of.

Ms. Nana Akua Anyidoho an Associate Professor at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, called for an investment in young people especially those who had entrepreneurial ideas as well as those  already engaged in entrepreneurship.

Mr. Agya Yaw Agyeman, Director for Planning, YEA said that the agency was positioning itself as a facilitator of jobs by connecting young people to jobs. He emphasized the relevance of job  centres throughout the country as well as the standardization of the TVET (Technical and Vocational Education Training) route.

Mr. Francis Marley, a Senior Research Officer at the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs urged the provision of information for students regarding the courses they were pursuing and their potential field of work.
He called for job incubators that would enable students and graduates  acquire skills they could leverage to find jobs.