Domestic workers protest outside Parliament in Nairobi. FILE
What you need to know:
The new government reckons that 40 per cent or about 16 million people out of the country’s population do not have work.
On top of a big army of jobless youth, at least 750,000 young people enter the job market every year, government statistics show.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his team face a daunting task in delivering their pre-election pledge of one million jobs annually from an economy which generated only 659, 400 jobs last year.
The new government reckons that 40 per cent or about 16 million people out of the country’s population do not have work, a figure that rises to 70 per cent among the restless youthful generation.
“We must work together to put measures in place to harness the time and talents of our youth in order to grow our economy,” Mr Kenyatta said when he outlined his development vision in a recent speech.
On top of a big army of jobless youth, at least 750,000 young people enter the job market every year, government statistics show.
This large number of educated youth entering the job market annually means Mr Kenyatta and his team have to think out of the box to create high-quality jobs that most of them will find appealing.
The official statistics released on Thursday however indicate that 90 per cent of the new jobs were either generated by the informal sector or people in self-employment.
Mr Kenyatta has already explained that his job-creation strategy would mainly involve facilitating the private sector to expand and generate employment. He is also counting on the jubilee government’s plan to consolidate and boost youth and women’s funds to encourage school leavers to get into business and create jobs.
The first major signal of the challenge ahead gleaned from the official statistics released on Thursday by the devolution and planning ministry is that manufacturing recorded a slow growth.
The sector, which together with agriculture are rated as the most labour-intensive, grew by just 3.1 per cent in 2012, compared to 3.4 per cent the previous year.
As a result of slow growth of key job creators, only 68,000 salaried jobs were generated by all sectors of the economy in 2012, compared to 74,200 in 2011.
To expand to the degree when it can raise the quality of jobs that appeal to most graduates, the sector must climb back to its previous growth levels of 10 per cent, insiders say. Officials, buoyed by easing energy prices are upbeat.
“The Kenya economy’s short to medium term forecast is for sustained and rising growth based on the fundamentals such as projected easing and stability of international oil prices,” said devolution and planning cabinet secretary Anne Waiguru.
For a start, the industry players want the jubilee government to move with speed in concluding the market access negotiation that has been pending between the east African states and their European counterparts.
The delay in concluding the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Europe could lead to business flight as Kenyan goods get subjected to punitive taxes, players warn.
“Kenya stands to benefit from foreign exchange earnings, employment opportunities and penetration to the EU market with the conclusion of EPAs.” Kenya Association of Manufacturers’ CEO Betty Maina said when industry players met Deputy President William Ruto on Wednesday.
To generate one million jobs, the economy as whole must expand by at least 10 per cent every year with government directing most of its investments to labour-intensive segments of the economy.
