Where Have Jobs In Kenya Have Gone To? DR XN Iraki Explains

A week hardly goes by without a student humbly requesting me to get her or him a job. Most are not choosy; they’ll take any job. When I started my academic career, that was a rarity. Then, students used to come for advice on which of the many job offers they should take.

I got my first job offer when I was in Form 2 — and I turned it down and gave it someone else. Is he still at Mumias Sugar? In my classes in the US, almost all undergraduate students worked, and though it prolonged their stay in university, it assured them of financial independence.

Every student and graduate wants to work, but the jobs are not forthcoming. When I talk to graduates of the 1970s, they talk with excitement about how they’d get three job offers a day! Where did all the jobs go?

Let’s accept that the concept of a job in Kenya is very different from other parts of the world. When a Kenyan talks of a job, he means a formal job where he gets a salary every month, irrespective of whether he worked or not. If all you are is a farmer owning 100 acres with a return of Sh10 million, you are still thought jobless. If we were to be sincere, there are lots of people working but they consider themselves jobless even when they earn more than those formally employed.

There is evidence that in Kenya, few formal jobs have been created the last 20 years. Do we wonder who sweeps and farms in Japan and other developed countries? Idle muscular men

Jobs went to the informal sector. There are good reasons for that. The corporate sector is able to leverage on technology to reduce the number of employees. For example, using the Internet to pay bills or email to send messages. Using earthmovers like graders to build roads keeps a lot of muscular men idle; e-Learning reduces the numbers of professors needed to teach a course; and robots can paint better and faster than we can.

Jobs also went high tech. Modern jobs demand you to have more advanced skills than in the past. You need to be computer literate, and if possible, have a knack for science and technology. Shuffling papers is no longer tenable — in fact, there are no longer papers or files to carry. This is one reason our young men are finding it hard to get jobs; they do not have the right skills.

Lots of students are fascinated by courses that nourish their emotions but not their wallets. They have big titles and catchy names but no job prospects. Do I need to name them? I got a job in Form 2 because I had technical skills. Tried getting a plumber recently? If you look at our expansion in higher education, it has been skewed in favour of social sciences where job prospects are narrow. That is why graduates are jobless. Such graduates are easier to produce but harder to employ or even self-employ. It’s more expensive to produce engineers but easier to employ them, or get them to be self-employed.

That is the secret behind Asians’ success in Kenya and beyond. Have you met an Asian majoring in anthropology or political science?

The secret

The strategic significance of science and technology is captured by the US government’s proposal to abolish the Green Card Lottery and instead give visas to those with advanced degrees in mathematics, science or technology. The secret behind the rise of China, Japan and South Korea is science and technology.

The beauty about getting science and technology skills or professional skills like accounting is that they are transferable. You can work anywhere in the world. You cannot go to Japan and demand to be elected a councillor or MCA because you have a PhD in political science. A doctor, an accountant, ICT expert or engineer can work anywhere. But unemployment in Kenya is more than a lack of marketable or relevant skills. We have created job seekers faster than we have created jobs.

Unlike in China, in Kenya you can have as many children as you want, and then demand that the Government educate them and give them jobs. In developed countries, parents do not “dump” responsibilities on the Government. That is why they have fewer children.

We have also killed jobs through corruption and ineptitude. When we employ the wrong people to lead our institutions, even the smallest ones like high schools, we end up with decisions that are not in line with the country’s long-term interests or those of the next generation. We have spent lots of energy on issues that do not create jobs.

We are forever talking about how revenue should be shared out, not generated. Ever heard a public debate on our low level of patenting? We produce few quality goods and services that have global demand. What do we sell to the world to create jobs?

Finally, we have made it hard to create jobs. Have you tried to start a business even when money is not a problem? The US gives green cards to job creators, what do we give our job creators?

The writer is a lecturer and MBA programme co-ordinator, University of Nairobi. Email: xniraki@gmai

The post Where Have Jobs In Kenya Have Gone To? DR XN Iraki Explains appeared first on Career Point Kenya.Click on the TITLE link for the original.