Africa Needs 15 Million Jobs Annually: Youth Start-ups Show the Way , Says President Mahama

Ghanaian President H.E John Dramani Mahama has issued a stark warning about Africa’s employment crisis, revealing that the continent must generate between 12 to 15 million jobs annually to meet the demands of its rapidly growing youth population.
Speaking at the Private- Public Business Dialogue TICAD-9 ,Yokohama 2025 in Japan, President Mahama emphasized the scale of the challenge facing African governments.
“Africa needs to turn up about 12 to 15 million jobs a year,” he stated, highlighting the urgent need for innovative approaches to job creation across the continent.
Traditional Sectors Cannot Meet Demand
President Mahama argued that conventional economic sectors alone cannot address this massive employment gap. “You cannot create that in manufacturing and industry and agriculture alone,” Mahama explained, pointing to the limitations of traditional job creation methods.
Instead, he advocated for a strategic shift toward emerging sectors that demonstrate superior job creation potential. “The rate at which the creatives and digital space add jobs is much faster than the traditional economy,” Mahama noted, emphasizing the transformative power of these industries.
Creative and Digital Sectors Lead Job Creation:
Mahama provided compelling statistics about the efficiency of new economy sectors in generating employment. “The creative sector and youth start-ups are adding jobs faster than the traditional sectors,” he observed, adding that these innovative industries “add about four jobs before you can create one job in agriculture or manufacturing.”
This dramatic difference in job creation rates has led President Mahama to call for increased government investment in these high-growth sectors.
“So it’s a place that we must invest as governments in order that we can absorb more of the youth,” Mahama urged.
Youth Demographics Drive Urgency
The employment challenge is particularly acute given Africa’s demographic profile. Mahama noted that young people aged 16 to 35 “form 60% of Africa’s population,” making job creation not just an economic priority but a social imperative.
Consequences of Inaction
President Mahama delivered a sobering warning about the potential consequences of failing to address the employment crisis.
“We know that we say the youth bulge, or the huge youth population in Africa, is an advantage, but if we do not create enough jobs fast enough to absorb those young people coming out, then it will become a gunpowder keg and it could consume us,” Mahama cautioned.
His message underscores the critical importance of immediate action to harness Africa’s demographic dividend while preventing social instability that could arise from widespread youth unemployment.
With millions of young Africans entering the job market annually, Mahama’s call for strategic investment in high-growth sectors represents both an economic opportunity and a continental imperative for stability and prosperity.