Unemployment Remains a Thorn in Kenya even as GDP grows to 5.8 Pc

By Amina Faki

According to a recent report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, in the year 2016, the economy generated a total of 832.9 thousand new jobs of which 85.6 thousand were in the modern sector while 747.3 thousand jobs were in the informal sector.

Even with this promising report we still see the number of unemployment shoot up leaving many Kenyan citizens with no single way to make a living. The situation is escalated by the numerous numbers of fresh graduates joining the employment world but seems not to find what to do or jobs that fall in the courses they have trained for.

The situation is devastating and has forced many well educated and trained individual opt for hard menial jobs to make a living, and those from the humble backgrounds opt to go into the street begging in order to make the ends meet and have at least one meal on the table.

With the rising inflation and the falling of the shilling against four major foreign currencies, this even becomes a tougher task for individual who are unemployed to cope with. In addition to the rising inflation and the falling of the shilling, many employers are firing some of the employees to be able to remain with a manageable number in terms of the economy hence increasing the number of the unemployed and worsening the situation even further.

This year the wage employment in the public sector registered a 2.6 per cent growth compared to an increase of 2.5 per cent recorded in 2015, says the KNBS financial report.

The low expansion in the employment was attributed to a freeze by the Government due to a limited recruitment in the essential services in the health, education and the security functions.

Are we as citizens growing or are we just adding value to those who have already grown and well established?