These firms do face challenges in terms of scaling up – most firms in Kenya are small, largely based in Nairobi, and operate in the informal sector, according to the latest Kenya Economic Update Edition 24: From Recovery to Better Jobs.
Kenya has over 138,000 formal establishments, and 7.4 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Among formal firms, only 3 percent have 50 or more employees, and only 1 percent of firms have 150 or more employees.
The majority of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), 94 percent, are unlicensed micro firms with fewer than five employees. Nairobi hosts 36 percent of formal firms and 14 percent of MSMEs.
The services sector dominates the firm landscape with 84 percent of formal firms and 83 percent of MSMEs in the services sector.
“Improving conditions in Kenya to support the ability of new firms to scale up and innovate is important to support the creation of better jobs at a large scale,” said Keith Hansen, World Bank Country Director for Kenya.
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“When firms reach a critical mass and are able to access larger markets, use technology, and expand exports, this results in increased productivity, better-quality jobs, and higher standards of living for large parts of the population,” he added.
Services sector leads in job creation
Prior to the onset of the pandemic, Kenya’s job creation was concentrated in the services sector. For instance, the number of formal firms in the retail sector increased fivefold – from around 700 in 2013 to 3,500 in 2018.
This outpaced the growth of formal firms in the manufacturing sector, the number of which roughly doubled over this period, from 336 to 714.
With services driving job creation, Kenya is exhibiting a new pattern of economic transformation that is emerging in Africa, and which may differ from the manufacturing-led transformation of East Asia and many high-income economies.
The growth in digital technology could enable some service sub-sectors to replicate features of the manufacturing sector that enable scale, innovation, and spillovers that are important for long-term development and job creation.
The services sector can be divided into four groups of sub-sectors based on their ability to enable scale, innovation, and spillovers:
- the global innovator services (ICT, finance, and professional activities)
- the skill-intensive social services (education and health)
- the low-skilled tradable services (transportation and storage, accommodation and food services, and wholesale trade); and
- the low-skilled domestic services (retail trade and personal services,).
Low-skilled services currently dominate employment in Kenya. Low-skilled domestic services accounted for over half of all service sector employment, and the low-skilled tradable sub-sectors for one-quarter, in 2019.
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Before the pandemic, Kenya saw strong growth in employment among the higher-skilled services sub-sectors. Employment in the global innovator sub-sectors grew by 10 percent between 2015/16 and 2019, largely led by the finance and insurance sub-sectors.
Employment in the skill-intensive social subsector, i.e. education and health, increased by an even larger 23 percent.
The country’s fintech success story highlights how global innovator services can be a source of job creation, reduce poverty and benefit the broader economy,” said Ramya Sundaram, Senior Economist, World Bank.
“With appropriate investment in trade, technology, and training, Kenya will be able to create jobs for people at all skill levels, ensuring that growth benefits everyone.”
The pandemic’s impact on the job market
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a very large impact on the labor market and some of the scarrings will have longer-term implications. Workers lost jobs and moved into agriculture to survive.
The services sectors and urban areas were worst affected. The share of employment in services declined by 7 percentage points, reversing almost all the gains since 2005.
Agriculture absorbed 1.6 million additional workers, increasing its share of employment from 47 percent to 54 percent in one year.
Unemployment increased in urban areas, while employment increased in rural areas. In addition to contemporary effects, human capital losses during the pandemic can have significant intergenerational consequences, including through the productivity of future generations.
The incipient rebound in employment in more recent months suggests that, with appropriate measures, Kenya could recover and surpass these losses.
