738,000 Kenyans lose jobs to the COVID-19 pandemic

An estimated 738,000 Kenyans lost jobs to the COVID-19 pandemic across the 2020 calendar year according to fresh data from the 2021 Economic Survey published Thursday.

Data from the report shows total recorded employment in 2020 declined by 4.1 per cent to 17.405 million from a higher 18.143 million at the end of 2019.

The deficit represents the total number of jobs lost across the year with the job losses being largely a factor of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jobs in the informal sector have taken the greatest hit at 544,000 in comparison to 194,000 jobs lost in the formal sector.

At, 2.897 million, formal jobs now stand at their lowest since 2017 but informal jobs still tally to the second highest rate in five years at 14.508 million.

At the same time, the informal sector remains the greatest contributor of jobs in the Kenyan economy representing about 83.4 per cent of total recorded employment by the government in 2020.

This means that for every 10 jobs, eight jobs are still found in the informal sector.

The number of wage employees in modern establishments stood at 2.741 million while the number of self-employed and unpaid family workers stood at 156,000.

The ratio of private sector employment to total employment declined to 67.7 per cent in 2020 in contrast to 70.5 per cent in 2019.

Tough measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 infections including restrictions to movement, lock-downs and the night time curfew have been tied to the loss of jobs as they served to curtail enterprise.

“Confirmation of the existence of the disease, necessitated taking drastic measures by the Government, to curb the spread of the virus and to minimize the risk of infections at workplaces. Consequently, cessation of movement in and out of some regions, closure of some businesses with high exposure and reduction of business operating hours due to introduction of curfew, adversely affected employment,” reads the report in part.

The new disclosures on jobs partly mirrors prior data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) but reveal deeper job cuts during the year of the pandemic.

For instance, KNBS data shows just under 240,000 jobs were shed in the quarter to March 2020 (before the pandemic).

Job losses surged under COVID-19 restrictions with total employment falling by over 1.7 million in the second quarter to June.

Data in the quarter through to September had however surprised with more than 1.8 million jobs added to the economy in the quarter while the statistician was yet post employment data for the quarter ending in December.

In September, the rate on unemployment was projected at 7.2 per cent from a higher 10.4 per cent at the end of June 2020.

The rate of unemployment doubled between March and June having risen from 5.2 per cent in the first quarter.

The new revelation means that the rate of unemployment is likely higher than previously assumed.

KNBS is expected to resume publishing its quarterly economic and labor force data from next month clearing up the numbers on unemployment.

Under strict terms, KNBS defines the unemployed as people who do not have a job, have actively looked for work (in the past four weeks) and are currently available for work.