This archive report was first published on 5 June 2020.
Kenya's Job Crisis Deepens Amid COVID-19 Pandemic ¶
Published on June 5, 2020
At least one million Kenyans have lost their jobs or been put on indefinite unpaid leave due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the tourism, transport, horticulture, communication, and education sectors being the worst-hit.
Multiple interviews and a compilation of public data from some of the companies suggest that the numbers could be higher, especially when casual labourers are factored in.
The Chinese contractor building the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) sent 4,013 Kenyans and 471 Chinese expats on unpaid leave due to the coronavirus crisis.
Kenya Airways, with over 4,000 employees, has seen its staff's pay cut by 75 per cent, with many waiting for a government bailout and the lifting of travel restrictions.
"If you are in a department where there is no work, such as pilots and cabin crew, you will stay at home the whole month. But engineers report for one week and are on leave the next, since aircraft have to be maintained even when parked," a member of staff said.
Bridge International Academies sent hundreds of teachers and other staff on compulsory leave in March, citing a "temporary lay-off" during which the organisation would not expect them to work and would not be obligated to pay salaries.
Private schools, which employ hundreds of thousands of teachers and other support staff, are also struggling, with many taking similar or worse actions.
"Private schools entirely depend on the school fees paid by parents, meaning if this pandemic continues, most of these schools will cease to exist," Private Schools Association chief executive Peter Ndoro warned.
Security companies, which employ over 700,000 guards, are also feeling the pinch, with many guards being laid off due to reduced operations at hotels and malls.
"When hotels shut down, the guards were released. When malls got reduced foot traffic, they reduced the number of guards. It has been very strenuous for the company and guards, some of whom have not worked for over two months," said Evans Muriu, a communication manager at SecurKenya Group Ltd.
Other sectors, including the horticultural sector, which employed over 150,000 Kenyans directly and another 500,000 indirectly, are also struggling.
According to the Alcohol Beverages Association of Kenya, bars previously employed over 250,000 people, many of them on a daily wage, but have been forced to close due to the pandemic.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has warned that more than half a million Kenyans could lose their jobs in the next six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, there is a glimmer of hope, with Kenya Airways' low-cost subsidiary Jambojet announcing that it has put in place safety plans in anticipation of launching its flights next week.
