Universities are producing graduates faster than the number of jobs being created in the formal sector annually while many companies are laying off workers
By NEWSPLEX TEAM
Massive job losses under the watch of the Jubilee government
sticks out against impressive reports of constant economic growth,
casting doubt on the government’s commitment to create employment.
Last
year, 78,400 new jobs were created in the formal sector, fewer than the
number of students that
graduated from public and private universities in 2016 which the Commission for University Education put at 88,773.
It was also a six-year low and a 42 percent drop from 134,200 in 2013, according to the Economic Survey 2019.
graduated from public and private universities in 2016 which the Commission for University Education put at 88,773.
It was also a six-year low and a 42 percent drop from 134,200 in 2013, according to the Economic Survey 2019.
Even
as worrying as the 2018 jobs dip or the overtime diminishing capacity
of the economy to churn out formal jobs is, nothing should have come as a
surprise following the frequency of reports in the past few years of
companies laying off workers in big numbers.
''Jobless recoveries of the economy are a result of the government spending a lot more on mega projects that do not easily and quickly spread wealth across the country,'' says Mr Ken Gichinga, chief economist and CEO at Mentoria Consulting.
Today Mumias Sugar
Company has only 500 employees, down from about 1,500 in 2017. The
cash-strapped firm had a turnover of just Sh1.4 billion and recorded a
loss of Sh15.1 billion in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, more
than what it lost the previous financial year (Sh6.8 billion). The
losses have continued into the current fiscal year. Other state-owned
sugar firms including Sony, Nzoia, Chemelil, Muhoroni and Miwani are
also insolvent.
Collectively, banks’ staff numbers in management and
non-management posts reduced by 5,309 or 15 percent in the three years
between January 2015 to December 2017, according to the Central Bank of
Kenya (CBK) supervision annual reports.
In 2014, Uchumi Supermarket, Kenya’s oldest supermarket chain and a leading brand for many years, began falling again after making a comeback in 2011. The giant was not to rise again – today it has only seven branches out of the 37 in operation in 2015. In 2017, Nakumatt, which operated a total of 64 outlets across East Africa as of December 2016, too, began closing its struggling branches in Kenya and Uganda. By last year it had just less than 10 outlets in operation. The shake-up at the two supermarket chains saw off 1,010 and 3,525 employees, respectively, in Kenya, according to the Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers. From 2015 to 2018, East African Portland Cement retrenched 1,000 workers, more than two-thirds of its staff, Kenya Airways let go 600 employees, Sameer Africa 600, Telkom Kenya 500, Kenya Power 302 and Airtel 144. In 2014, battery manufacturer Eveready East Africa closed down its dry cell plant in Nakuru town. Ninety-nine employees were sent home.
Within the same period, a number of global firms have wound up their local subsidiaries, taking with them more than 600 jobs. They include Nestlé, Tata Chemicals Magadi, Sher Karuturi and Cadbury. Some did not close shop altogether but restructured their operations to cut down costs which included retrenching employees. Coca-Cola laid off employees after moving their Africa office to Johannesburg. American manufacturers of software and computer services Microsoft and HP have also retrenched a large number of local staff in the last two years.
In 2014, Uchumi Supermarket, Kenya’s oldest supermarket chain and a leading brand for many years, began falling again after making a comeback in 2011. The giant was not to rise again – today it has only seven branches out of the 37 in operation in 2015. In 2017, Nakumatt, which operated a total of 64 outlets across East Africa as of December 2016, too, began closing its struggling branches in Kenya and Uganda. By last year it had just less than 10 outlets in operation. The shake-up at the two supermarket chains saw off 1,010 and 3,525 employees, respectively, in Kenya, according to the Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers. From 2015 to 2018, East African Portland Cement retrenched 1,000 workers, more than two-thirds of its staff, Kenya Airways let go 600 employees, Sameer Africa 600, Telkom Kenya 500, Kenya Power 302 and Airtel 144. In 2014, battery manufacturer Eveready East Africa closed down its dry cell plant in Nakuru town. Ninety-nine employees were sent home.
Within the same period, a number of global firms have wound up their local subsidiaries, taking with them more than 600 jobs. They include Nestlé, Tata Chemicals Magadi, Sher Karuturi and Cadbury. Some did not close shop altogether but restructured their operations to cut down costs which included retrenching employees. Coca-Cola laid off employees after moving their Africa office to Johannesburg. American manufacturers of software and computer services Microsoft and HP have also retrenched a large number of local staff in the last two years.
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