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FROM BAD TO WORSE
The KNBS defines the unemployed as persons who did not have a job in the reference period but actively looked for work and were available for placement.
The highest proportion of the unemployed has remained between ages 20 and 24 and 25 and 29 with respective unemployment rates of 22.8 and 21.7 per cent.
The pandemic has taken a toll on several sectors of the economy, with hospitality, aviation, education, transport and logistics worst hit.
Last year, the government did not announce a minimum wage increase for workers, and a similar scenario is expected this year. Kenya’s minimum wage was retained at Sh15,572.
This despite the cost of living going up as traders take advantage of low supply, high demand, a situation brought about by the government’s strict Covid-19 observation measures.
The spiral effect has hit households hard as breadwinners become house warmers.
A survey by Twaweza East Africa found that six in 10 Kenyans cannot afford three square meal a day as a result of the crushing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey was released in February and covered 3,000 respondents aged 18 and older.
It indicates food reserves in six of 10 homes could barely last a week, and two out of 10 homes have no food at all, warning that the pain will worsen on reintroduced Covid-19 restrictions.
The report said two out of three Kenyans, 67 per cent, believe the education sector was worst hit by the pandemic, followed by the informal/jua kali sector and the health sector at 60 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively.
The findings mirror a more recent report by the Consortium of Research on Governance, which found that more than half of families in Kenya cannot afford basic needs due to the impact of Covid-19.
The report, titled ‘Economic impact of Covid-19 Mitigation Measures on Mwananchi’, was released on Wednesday. It shows 74 per cent of households in the country are struggling to put food on the table.
The few who can afford food, clothes and shelter are forced to adopt new coping mechanisms to boost their consumption revenue or cut expenditure.
It adds that 21 per cent of breadwinners have been forced to look for side hustles to cope with the socioeconomic pressures of Covid-19, while 17.8 per cent of families are borrowing to put food on the table.
“Most families have been forced to relocate to less costly houses, while 5.7 per cent of city dwellers have retreated to their native counties,” the report reads in part.
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