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Woe for jobless Kenyans as govt freezes employment for 1 year

Jobseekers queue for interviews in Nairobi in the past. (Photo: Courtesy)

By Alfred Onyango | Friday, June 14, 2024

The government is struggling to cut down expenditures, including its ballooning wage bill, amid austerity measures introduced by President William Ruto.

The government will not hire new employees in the public sector for one year, beginning July 1.

This comes against the backdrop of the burgeoning unemployment that has rendered millions of fresh graduates jobless.

According to Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u, the government is struggling to cut down expenditures, including its ballooning wage bill, amid austerity measures introduced by President William Ruto.

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"The state seeks to audit and cleanse all public payrolls, pensions, and transfers to the vulnerable, with a view to eliminating ghost workers as well as enforce payment of salary scales as approved or recommended by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC)," Ndung'u said on Thursday when he tabled the 2024–25 Budget in Parliament.

The employment freeze announcement comes days after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey revealed that most private companies in the country are also not shying away from hiring additional employees this year, as they plan to rely on the present numbers to address the growing market demand.

Conducted in the first three weeks of May and targeting CEOs and other senior officers of at least 354 private sector firms, the study revealed there are lower hiring expectations this year for banks and non-bank private firms.

This then poses the question: What's the future for thousands of unemployed Kenyans?

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u arrives at Parliament buildings on Thursday, June 13, 2024, ahead of the 2024/25 budget presentation. (Photo: X/Parliament)

Trading Economics, an economic indicator website, reiterates that the average unemployment rate in Kenya stood at 4.9 per cent as of January last year.

Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) concurs with Trading Economics, indicating that the unemployment rate in the country decreased to 4.90 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 from 5.30 per cent in the third quarter of 2022.

"The rate reached an all-time high of 12.20 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 and a record low of 4.70 per cent in the second quarter of 2019," KNBS says.

Despite the alarming data, the government has pronounced its hard stance to freeze new hiring in its fiscal consolidation strategy.

Further measures announced by the CS include curtailing spending on expenditure items such as foreign travel, rationalising all training expenses across the government and restricting all training to within government institutions.

"We will also rationalise all allocations for the purchase of motor vehicles, and suspend the purchase of furniture for one year, as well as refurbishments and partitioning of government offices," the CS added.

"We also seek to review the regional development authorities to remove duplication of roles with those of the county governments and Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs)."