Kenya: 843,000 jobs were created in 2019, economic growth depressed

A total of 843,000 new jobs were created in Kenya last year, the 2020 Economic Survey launched on Tuesday indicates.

The new jobs came despite a slow down on economic growth, according to the survey released by Treasury CS Ukur Yatani.

The country’s economic growth fell to 5.4 per cent from 6.3 per cent in 2018.

The new jobs, however, remain low compared to 2017 where 897,000 jobs were created. In 2016, 832,900 new jobs were created.

The total persons engaged in the modern and informal sectors went up from 17.3 million in 2018 to 18.1 million in 2019.

Employment in the modern sector recorded a growth of 2.4% in 2019 compared to 2.8 per cent in 2018.

In the year under review, a total of 67,800 jobs were created in the modern sector.

The informal sector is estimated to have been created 767,900 new jobs in 2019 compared to 744,100 new jobs in 2018.

The slower growth in 2019 was also reflected in other macroeconomic indicators.

The CS said that the annual inflation increased from 4.7 per cent in 2018 to 5.2 per cent in 2019.

The increase in inflation was mainly due to less favourable weather conditions in the first half of 2019, though registering Aquariusgradual improvement over the remaining part of the year resulting to drop in food prices and overall inflation.

“It’s important to note that Prudent macroeconomic policies and stable Kenya shilling against the major currencies especially the US dollar helped in containing the inflation,” Yatani said.