Unemployment has remained an issue plaguing Kenya for over 62 years since its inception. Part of the issue is that the education sector has expanded without a corresponding increase in employment opportunities. Reports suggest that over 70,000 students graduate from universities in Kenya every year. Conversely, there are limited job opportunities for graduates, both in the public and private sectors.
Word on the street is that one has to part with a better part of a million to get a government job. Private-sector opportunities are also limited and unstable due to erratic economic conditions. Take, for instance, the top companies by market cap on the NSE, Safaricom, employs just over 5,000 people permanently. The rest of the companies, mostly banks like KCB, Equity, and Co-operative Bank, hire even fewer graduates on permanent terms. In fact, tier 1 banks mostly offer contract employment at the entry level for their direct sales staff, though the pathway to full employment is rarely defined clearly.
Furthermore, many companies are closing in Kenya. As recently as last week, Wuerth Kenya, which has been operating in Kenya for a quarter of a century, announced that it will be closing shop in Kenya from next month. Hundreds of Kenyans, especially “Gen Zers”, affected by the closure will be on the streets seeking new employment opportunities.
The unemployment crisis for young people has led them along different paths in diaspora, forex remote jobs, and some not very legal ways.
The clamour among young people to get out of Kenya is at its peak. Kenya ranks highest in East, Central, and Southern Africa in applications for green cards to the US. Even the Kenyan government, via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs even advertises jobs for Kenyans in the diaspora. The Kenyan diaspora community sent home more than $ 5 billion. This is more than any other foreign exchange earner. Even more than exports. According to The Kenyan Wall Street Journal, remittances have grown fivefold since 2012. And 15 times since 2004. Unfortunately, there are negatives to the broadening diaspora community. Every once in a while, reports emerge about a scandalous recruitment agency. The Kenyan soldiers recruited, albeit unknowingly, to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war is a good case example. Additionally, most Kenyans, especially those working in the Middle East, hold menial jobs under harsh conditions. The desire to leave the country has impaired the judgment of Kenyans seeking employment abroad, leading them to ignore obvious red flags.
Most young people have pursued opportunities outside Kenya, without necessarily going abroad. Remote jobs abroad are a critical source of livelihood for young people. Kenya has one of the most penetrative internet networks in Africa. This has enabled easier access and execution of the remote jobs. Initially, this was reserved for those with technical expertise inmfields such as statistics, accounting, and development. The self-taught developer era in Kenya has also led more people to get remote jobs based on their skills rather than academic credentials.
With globalization, many Kenyans without technical expertise have found something in the global market they can venture into. The Forex market is becoming increasingly relevant to Gen-Z. Several small estates in many places in Nairobi and its suburbs owe their rise to the rise of forex trading among the young Kenyans. Coupled with that is the rise of academic writing, which has faced backlash in recent years. Sources spoken to for this article on condition of anonymity indicate that, whilst the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT has reduced their jobs, they still can scrape by. The source also confided that it will be almost impossible to eliminate the “market” entirely.
Young Kenyans have also taken advantage of online tasks previously prominent in countries like Nigeria and India. OpenAI, the parent company behind OpenAI, has also faced media scrutiny over the reports that it employed Kenyans to help advance the AI tool. Much of the criticism stemmed from the minimal pay received by those involved. To be fair to them, what might be a minimum wage on the international market could significantly affect the livelihoods of a developing nation like Kenya.
The aforementioned have greatly improved the livelihoods of young people. Unfortunately, the reverse has also happened. Kenyans are under scrutiny for cyber crimes both domestically and internationally. The classic “prompt scam” has made a comeback. Further to that, Interpol arrested 27 Kenyans in connection with credit card scams in the United States. And many more are still wanted in connection with scams.
Part of the issue is that the said opportunities are very much unregulated. As a result, many young Kenyans involved in various scams have found a way to hide behind forex or academic writing. “Online work,” as most jobs done on the internet are commonly referred to, has gained a bad reputation. The reputation may ultimately lead to stricter regulations or job losses. In conclusion, a significant portion of young people are unemployed by definition but not in principle. Most of them have utilized the unregulated sector and are justly benefiting from the opportunities it offers. There is an argument that these opportunities may fade out with time. But the Gen- Z is innovative. The opportunities may fade, but the young people will find newer and better ways to put a mzinga on the table.
