The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. John Kwabena Kwakye, has shared how a 24-hour economy would be beneficial to Ghana considering the unemployment rate in the country.
He says the additional hours after the normal work period can be utilised to “expand economic space and bring in more production.”
Dr. Kwakye, who was speaking Wednesday, April 03,2024, to present the Institute’s reflections on President Akufo-Addo’s February 27 State of the Nation Address (SONA) and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Decision delivered by the Bank of Ghana Governor on March 25 said the initiative will equally tackle idle labour in the country.
“One third of your lifetime you spend that time sleeping. So maybe we can stagger our sleep, we can let some people sleep and then we will be working. We’ll do rotation. It is something that can be explored because we are in a situation where there is so much idle labour so if we are to expand the economic space and time to bring in more production, start with the essentials; things like power, security and other infrastructure may have to be provided,” he noted.
Elsewhere in the US, Dr. Kwakye added that some companies that work at night do not employ security of the federal state but private security and that also creates employment.
“Even the security we are talking about is also employment. It doesn’t have to be the police,” he stated.
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