Kenyans spend just four and half hours daily on economically productive activities on average, denying the country billions of shillings in lost man-hours yearly.
Kenya Time Use Report 2021, compiled from a Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) survey, shows that the active labour force uses another 16 hours of the day on non-productive activities, depriving many households of the opportunity to improve their financial health.
The survey found that Kenyans spent 375 minutes every day, which works up to four and half hours daily, on income-generating activities, with males on average spending 352.6 minutes compared to women at 200.9 minutes.
This points to the economy’s struggles to create jobs in addition to low-paying jobs.
The survey, whose findings were released on Wednesday, was conducted across 24,000 households and further found that 941.8 minutes per day (16 hours) were spent on non-productive activities.
“Generally, the amount of time spent by men on non-SNA [system of national accounts] productive activities was higher compared to women across all counties and the reverse applies for time spent on non-SNA productive activities,” says the KNBS report.
KNBS defines SNA productive activities as the production of goods and services intended for people other than the producers and which is done by paid domestic staff while SNA non-productive activities refer to domestic and personal services produced and consumed within the same household.
SNA is the internationally accepted framework for estimating the gross domestic product of a country.
Kenya’s economy has been struggling to create jobs to absorb thousands of college and university graduates every year, forcing them to enter the informal sector while others give up on the search for jobs altogether.
Official data show that 2.97 million Kenyans were jobless as at December last year, a 2.94 percent increase from 2.89 million three months earlier.
Youth aged mostly between 20 and 29 years have been the worst hit by the unemployment crisis, accounting for 1.54 million of the Kenyans without jobs as at December last year.
Besides the lack of job opportunities, the survey’s findings back revelations by an American analytics and advisory company that showed about 83 percent of Kenyan workers are stuck to their current jobs due to a lack of opportunities at other firms.
Gallup, in its report dubbed ‘State of the Global Workplace 2023’ released in July, said that engagement levels for Kenyan workers are at 17 percent, with the remaining majority either “quiet quitting” (not engaged) or “loud quitting” (actively disengaged).
Ken Gichinga, chief economist at Mentoria Economics, said that the trend is a worry that speaks to the twin problems of unemployment and under-employment in Kenya.
“Spending the majority of their time on non-productive activities loudly speaks of the unemployment and underemployment problem that should be a concern to our policymakers,” Mr Gichinga told the Business Daily on Wednesday.
“This is worrying given that like any other economy, Kenyans are also keen to economically better their lives.”
Policymakers, he said, should explore ways of monetising unproductive activities as a way of curing the high rate of unemployment.
Economic Planning Principal Secretary James Muhatia, who presided at the launch, said that the findings of the time use survey will be key in informing policies of the current administration aimed at increasing the inclusion of women in the socio-economic and political space.
“The report shows that unpaid work disproportionately disadvantages women and thus the need for increased efforts that are deliberate to reduce the unequal social, economic and political opportunities for women of this country,” Mr Muhatia said.
The KNBS survey found that men spend more time on personal activities like self-care and leisure compared to women in all counties apart from Nairobi and Homa Bay.
Time spent by men on SNA non-productive activities was higher in urban areas at 67 minutes a day compared to 57 minutes in rural areas while women in rural areas spent more time on SNA non-productive activities at 282 minutes daily compared to 272 minutes for those in urban areas.
The Kenya Time Use Report 2021 is the first of its kind conducted at a national level in the country. Kenya joins economies like Tanzania and Ethiopia that have undertaken similar surveys.
It covered 24, 000 homes across the 47 counties with 14,976 households in rural Kenya and the remaining 9,024 in urban areas. Respondents in the survey were aged 15 years and above.
Data collection was done quarterly, with respondents giving feedback 24 days per quarter throughout the survey period.
The survey also found that on average, women spend four and half hours every day on unpaid work, which is five times the average of 56 minutes that men spent, highlighting the vast disparities in economic empowerment between men and women.
The research that was also funded by the United Nations Women's Charter and the Oxfam GB— an association of non-state entities working to eradicate poverty— focused on comparing the levels of paid and unpaid work between males and females across all ages from 15 years.
