The Labour ministry has launched a survey seeking to seal information gaps between the skills employers require and what the education sector offers.
The Employers Skills and Occupations survey will sample human resource managers in enterprises in the formal sector to identify skills shortages they face.
The data generated is expected to offer answers on what employers look for when hiring and how the skills affect training and compensation.
"The survey will generate data on types of skills and occupations demanded in the economy…and identify hard-to-fill occupations," said Labour Cabinet secretary Simon Chelugui on Thursday.
He said the researcher, policymakers and business planners would use the data generated to encourage growth in the formal sector.
The respondents will be required to provide information on employment and education attainment of employees in their establishments, employment by occupation, number of existing vacancies and obstacles firms face during the hiring.
They will also be required to share information on employability skills from the employers' perspective, employers' assessment of the quality and relevance of university education and technical and vocational education and training to labour market needs.
About one million job seekers enter the labour market annually, but only 800,000 can be hired. The informal sector accounts for 80 percent of those employed.
A large number of the new entrants into the job market seek alternatives such as setting up small businesses after missing out on limited opportunities.
In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 730,000 jobs were lost, causing the economy to contract by 0.3 percent.
The worst-hit sectors were hospitality, transport, support services, and education due to restrictions, lockdowns and closure of schools for nine months.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data shows formal jobs created last year stood at about 173,000, signalling a resumption in hiring after economic growth rebounded from Covid-19 shocks.
The survey is part of the third component of the Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project, which targets to plug information gaps concerning the labour market.
