KNBS Reports 3.5 million Youths Are Idle

According to a recent report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the country’s job market is shrinking, leaving an estimated 3.5 million youths idle. According to KNBS, in the quarter that ended in December, 19% of the total population of 15-34 year olds in Kenya, which is 18.37 million, were unemployed or not engaged in any productive activity.

The KNBS report, which covers the quarter that ended in December, indicates that out of the 2.97 million jobless Kenyans aged between 15 and 64 who are eligible to work, 2.01 million of them were not actively searching for employment.

“Youth aged 15-34 who were not in the education system and were not working or being trained for work during was 19 percent” said KNBS in the survey.

The report attributes the rise in unemployment to a number of factors, including slow economic growth, and a mismatch between the skills that young people possess and those that are in demand in the job market.

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The report recommends a number of measures to address the unemployment crisis, including investing in education and training programs that equip young people with the skills that are in demand in the job market, creating a conducive business environment that promotes job creation, and implementing policies that support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are the main drivers of job creation in the country.

The government has also launched a number of initiatives aimed at addressing the unemployment crisis, including the Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project (KYEOP), which aims to provide training and job opportunities to young people, and the Ajira Digital Program, which aims to equip young people with digital skills that are in high demand in the job market. However, more needs to be done to address the underlying structural issues that are fueling the unemployment crisis in the country

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