Job creation or employment is the third most important need of Ghanaian voters after education and health in the 2012 elections, a research conducted by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has indicated.
This means that voters expect the political party which might win the elections to pay particular attention to job creation after education and health respectively.
The research, which was conducted across the country in March 2012 with 7,497 respondents, was to enable the Commission to know in order of preference what voters expected from the party which might win power.
Elaborating on employment which secured 33% for the third spot, Mrs Gertrude Zakariah-Ali, Director of Research, NCCE, noted that 50.4% of those who responded to the questionnaires were females, an indication that women were gradually becoming interested in issues of national interest.
She noted that respondents in the three northern regions and the Volta Region did not place much premium on education.
"Over there, due to the interest in farming activities, all those who are involved in it considered it as employment in one way or the other and did not spend time going round in search of a job", she said.
She noted that through the research, it was also detected that voters expect their parliamentarians to help in creating jobs for the youth in the constituents and also attract investors into the constituency for developmental projects.
"Voters also expect their parliamentarians to collaborate with financial institutions on how they could get soft loans for operators of small businesses in their constituencies as well", she said.
Mrs Frema Osei Opare, NPP Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon commended the NCCE for sharing the research findings with the political parties, which gives insights to voters' preference on socio-economic needs.
She said NPP sees employment as major priority issue and consider education as a means through which the human resources could be developed for the job market.
The MP said when the NPP is elected into office it would focus on more training programmes for Ghanaians to work in the oil and gas sector.
Mrs Osei Opare said the poultry industry would also be developed through assisting poultry farmers to access loans to expand their market to enable them to produce enough poultry products for local consumption.
Mrs Victoria Armah, Director of Research of the Progressive People's Party, said her Party also takes employment issues as very important and had made many tangible commitments and programmes to solve the employment situation in the country.
She mentioned the setting up of petrochemical industries, development of tourism sectors and supporting the local industries to expand their businesses.
Mr Prosper Quao, Deputy General Secretary, PNC, said his party would concentrate on the unemployed graduates and ensure that they take courses that meet the demands of the job markets to enable them to get employment after school.
Mr Ekow Duncan, CPP spokesperson on Agriculture, stressed the need to focus on developing the local market, adding that, the CPP would want to focus on the increase in the production of corn for flour instead of the importation of wheat flour.
He said other local produce like coffee, cashew, millet and sorghum would be vigorously developed to supplement cocoa production.
Pastor Harry Mettle, General Secretary, GCPP, said his party would encourage more people to go into farming as a source of employment to produce enough food to feed the nation. The party would also develop and promote the use of solar energy nationwide.