Data suggests that 54.95 percent of the 2.15 million people aged between 20 and 34 who were out of work did not attempt to look for a job, four weeks to the end of September.
We cannot afford to have youth idling yet they represent a significant untapped resource of productivity and talent. With the right support and training, they can benefit businesses and communities.
Failure to employ this population has devastating implications.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has reported that about 1.8 million jobs were created in the three months to September, but the youth got a raw deal.
Data suggests that 54.95 percent of the 2.15 million people aged between 20 and 34 who were out of work did not attempt to look for a job, four weeks to the end of September.
We cannot afford to have youth idling yet they represent a significant untapped resource of productivity and talent. With the right support and training, they can benefit businesses and communities.
Failure to employ this population has devastating implications.
The cost of youth disconnection and idleness — including an increase in drugs and alcohol abuse, mental illnesses, and incarceration — will take a toll on many households.
The government and the private sector must deliberately start investing in programmes that create clear paths to employment, including training in hard skills for fields like customer service, technology, and soft skills like problem-solving, time management, and teamwork.
Many companies are now going digital, prompted by the effects of Covid-19.
Let them tap the youth's restlessness and creativity. Key foreign-income earners including tourism and exports, such as tea, flowers, and vegetables, should integrate jobless horticulture and tourism graduates.
There are many Maths and Physics graduates with no jobs; re-train them to be medical physicists to work in radiotherapy units or in laboratories, a strategy that has worked well for India's healthcare.
Medical equipment is lying idle in counties due to a lack of personnel yet science graduates can easily be trained to run the machines.
In the Covid-19 economy, the youth have shown that they are more adventurous and entrepreneurial.
They stepped up their side hustles, turning job losses and the boredom of staying indoors into business opportunities.
Kenya needs to create conditions in which its greatest resource — the young and energetic people — can shine.
Or else, the high youth unemployment will become a toxic brew.
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