Thousands more to lose jobs, employers now say

FKE Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo at a briefing yesterday. [David Njaaga, Standard]  

By Wainaina Wambu

Employers are expected to lay off thousands of workers in the next six months after more than half of the firms in the private sector reported inability to meet staff costs in a new survey.

The Federation of Kenya Employers said in the last five years, the private sector created more than 200,000 jobs but the coronavirus pandemic has wiped out more than 80 per cent of those jobs between March and July.

Releasing the survey findings on the impact of Covid-19 on enterprises, Federation of Kenya Employers Chief Executive Jacqueline Mugo said 84 per cent of companies reported adverse effects on their cashflows and over a million jobs were now at risk.

“This situation shows that if the government does not intervene in helping enterprises in improving their cash flows, then more than a million formal sector workers are at risk of losing their current incomes on jobs,” she said yesterday.