NYEP

THE 2008 evaluation report of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) indicates that participants in the programme receive an average monthly wage of GH¢50, which is lower than the prevailing national minimum wage of GH¢61.
The report also showed significant wage differences by gender, location, education and employment module.
For instance, male participants on the average earned eight per cent higher wages than their female counterparts in the same module.
It also indicated that the average wage for persons working in other administrative regions was significantly lower than persons working in the nation's capital, except those in the Brong Ahafo Region.
This came to light at a policy discussion workshop on youth employment in Ghana and the launch of the evaluation report of the NYEP in Accra last Tuesday.
The report was under the auspices of the Ghana Trades Union Congress Labour Research and Policy Institute, with funding from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Making the presentation, the acting Head of the Labour Research and Policy Institute of the TUC, Mr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo, said persons employed in the community protection, rural education and internship modules earned higher wages, compared with what those in the waste and sanitation management module earned.
He explained that on the average persons employed in the auxiliary nursing and agri-business modules earned lower wages than those in the waste and sanitation management module.
According to the report, participants with higher levels of education were rewarded by the programme.
For example, participants with post-secondary education on the average earned 18 per cent higher wages than participants with no formal education, even when other observable factors were taken into account.
It also stated that participants had no access to benefits such as social security, medical care, sick leave and annual leave.
It further indicated that 64 per cent of participants indicated that the NYEP offered them their first wage employment.
Organisations and institutions using the services of NYEP participants include the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ministry of Health (MoH).
The rest are the Ghana Police Service, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Zoomlion Company Limited and municipal councils.
Launching the report, the acting Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Rashid Abdul Pelpuo, said the NYEP was an important programme which needed to be supported by Ghanaians.
He said the report would be used by the ministry as a working tool and gave the assurance that the programme would be improved upon and sustained to enable more youth to benefit from it.