Employment in Kenya

Source: Kachwanya.com

Something I just want to note somewhere is my pile of thoughts about employment and capacity in Kenya.

I've been really impressed - and delighted - by the high capacity (or ability to improve capacity) in Kenya. My teammates are brilliant, the ability to innovate is strong, and people's ingenuity is remarkable. And my experiences with other professionals have been probably better than what I have had in many US towns (and even in NYC).

What breaks my heart is the gap for some to get jobs worth their abilities. Many different people have explained to me that lots of Kenyans take years (YEARS!) to get jobs after graduation from university because the job market is inadequate. I've met colleagues who were once between jobs and had to look for a long period of time to find their next gig. This is particularly true for the youth; while a third of the working population is youth, youth also make up over two-thirds of the unemployment market.

What's more - sometimes the jobs they can get in their trained professions don't pay enough to make it worthwhile to choose over jobs that don't require their skills. A lot of people take jobs with drive shares like Uber or SafeBoda because the gig economy is real and many find it to be better money than more stable office jobs.

Take my driver, C. He drives a couple of us every day to and from our homes and the office. He's a really sweet guy, and sharp. I just found out he's a trained lab tech - a job I think is too complicated and skilled for me to get my head wrapped around ever.

And yet, he chooses to be an Uber driver over a lab tech. Because there aren't jobs that he could easily commute to from where his family is. Because it doesn't pay well. Because the perks just aren't there to make it worth his life's commitment. So C is now my driver and talks to me on our car rides about fecal sludge management, the chemistry of alcohol, and the science of health products and everything. We pay him $15 daily to drive us in a 2-hour commute through Nairobi.

I remarked this to some of my work colleagues here and they were sympathetic. They told me that if they got paid a bit less or had a car, they'd make the same choice.

This means that there are a lot of Uber drivers available for my tedious trips across the city. And a lot of them have shared interesting conversations with me about sanitation and the economy.

I know there are similar issues in places around the US, but I was surprised in such a booming economy with so much growth and potential to suffer from these issues. It seems that part of the issue is that the population rate has been outgrowing the economic growth rate, and some businesses are trying to get leaner and take on AI that can make some people redundant - and that could spell more unemployment problems in the near future in the country, or more brain drain.