At least 1.72 million Kenyans workers lost their jobs between April and June as coronavirus pandemic bit the economy hard, data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows.
A lockdown introduced in March led to massive layoff while hundreds of thousands of workers had to contend with pay cuts.
KNBS in its report titled The Quarterly Labour Force Survey indicates that between April and June, only 15.87 million people were in employment compared to 17.59 under the same period in 2019.
It further notes that the youth are the hardest hit by unemployment.
Between March and June, an estimated 4.64 million people were rendered jobless. The survey indicated that in March alone when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed, 2.94 million people lost their jobs.
The huge number of job losses recorded in March alone was inspired by a dusk-to-dawn curfew that was imposed by the State.
Until July 6 when the economy was partially reopened, everything was at a standstill forcing many in the corporate world to make do without jobs.
The informal sector was not spared either.
Workers in their prime, between the ages of 20 and 29 years accounted for 63 percent (1,158,466 positions) of job losses.
Between the ages of 35 and 50 years, they accounted for 17 percent of job losses by losing out on 312,316 positions.
“The highest proportion of the unemployed was recorded in the age groups 20-24 and 25-29, each registering over 20 percent,” the KNBS analysts wrote in the report.
“The same age groups also had the highest increase of over 10 percent each in unemployment over the three months reference period.”
From the study, the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) said that time has come to look for ways to operate amid the pandemic.
“We cannot ascertain for how long this damage will last. We need to be prepared to manage businesses within the Covid- 19 environment,” Federation of Kenya Employers executive director Jacqueline Mugo told the Business Daily.
“Businesses that quickly adapt to the new normal and come up with strategies for survival will most likely come out of this crisis season much faster and better,” she added.
