Kenya’s job market continues to stagnate despite economic success

Kenya’s job market has stagnated for almost a decade now.
Kenya has not been able to record over 10% employment growth in the period under review.
This job issue is despite the country’s thriving and even developing economy.

The unemployment rate in Africa is not in the best shape currently, as scores of economies within the continent continue to struggle to provide adequate jobs to service its population.

Regardless, there are countries in the continent which have to some degree scaled this hurdle and even shatters new milestones on the mission to provide jobs and job securities for its citizens. Unfortunately, Kenya is not one of such countries.

Since 2013, Kenya's labor market has stagnated according to the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) latest economic outlook.

The total employment has been growing at an average rate of about 5.07% since 2013. In 2021, the number stood at 5.3%, but this country witnessed its highest percentage growth in employment in 2014, when it saw a 6.2% increase in employment growth.

This issue has persisted, despite Kenya’s recent economic successes. The Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), disclosed that the unemployment rate in Kenya grew by about 2.65% in 2020 from 2.64% in 2019.

However, the Central Bank of Nigeria has a slightly different and optimistic view on the subject at hand. The bank estimated that the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 employment growth expected to land at 6.4% and 6%, respectively.

According to the country’s National Treasury, economic growth rose to an 11-year high last year recovering from the Covid-19 low of negative 0.3% to 7.5%.

The growth was as a result of the reopening of various sectors of the economy, improved demand and removal of restrictions that disrupted economic activities.

The Kenyan economy like every other economy on the continent was hit hard by some unpredictable economic deterrents, like more complex external trade, external conflicts, and small bouts of ostensibly induced inflations. It also dealt with some more predictable problems like climate change, and for this the country spent more for basic amenities.

With a global recession touted, and a globally unstable market, it would take the Kenyan government a lot of ingenuity to pump those employment numbers up.