Background

In Kenya, there are over 10 million youth in the active labour force, with 31.45% either under-employed or unemployed. The under-employed work less than 40 hours a week and are likely willing to work more hours given the opportunities. The unemployed are not working but are available and looking for work. The 2015/2016 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS) observed the highest rates of labour underutilization among the under-employed and unemployed youth were aged between 15 to 34 years. Moreover, those within this bracket who are employed only make a median wage of KSh. 6,000. This presents a challenge for majority of school and university youth as well as young families who find themselves under or slightly above the poverty line.

Although there have been and continue to be employment-generating initiatives, it is unclear whether they are effectively targeting the vulnerable demographics in the correct geographies. Subsequently, there is a need to identify gaps, that is, the location and demography of under- and unemployed youth that are underserved by these initiatives.

What is this tool?

This data dashboard was developed to visualize data on youth unemployment based on county economic profiles, youth demographic data and youth employment initiatives in Kenya. The aim is to provide an understanding of the under- and unemployed youth and present insights on underserved population and areas to facilitate more targeted employment interventions by government agencies, private sector, and donor organizations. The tool also provides children (0-17 years) data since this is important to inform medium- and longer-term planning for the youth demographic. The development of this tool was undertaken by Dalberg under partnership with The Mastercard Foundation for the Office of the President’s Policy and Strategy Unit (PASU).

Who uses this tool?

This tool is intended to be used by:

  1. National and County Governments
  2. Government Agencies
  3. Donor Organizations
  4. Private Sector Companies
  5. Public

How to use the tool

This web tool is structured into three interactive dashboards, which are essentially use-cases for identifying the overall youth labour market and the gaps in employment interventions.

Children

This use-case provides a breakdown of information on children at county level. The information displayed includes:

  1. Population by gender and age.
  2. Population in urban and rural areas.
  3. Enrolment at pre-primary, primary and secondary levels.
  4. Nutrition status of children, in particular stunting, wasting, and underweight.

More information on children’s nutritional status can be found on National Information Platform for Food Security and Nutrition (NIPFN) and KIPPRA's Publications on NIPFN.

Youth

This use-case provides a breakdown of information on youth at county level. The information displayed includes:

  1. Population by gender and age, including the projected 2027 population.
  2. Population in urban and rural areas.
  3. Population of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

Labour

This use-case provides a breakdown of the youth labour information. It is segmented into:

NEET

This section highlights the percentage of youth not in employment, education or training.

Active Labour Force

This section highlights the economically active youth population proportioned by settlement, gender, education level and economic sector.

Demographic

This section categorizes the economically active youth population into:

oEmployment status i.e., employed and unemployed. The employed are further grouped into fully employed and under-employed. The under-employed youth work less than 40 hours a week but are willing and available to work more hours. Unemployed youth who don’t have employment but are actively seeking opportunities.

  1. Settlement type where the active labour force population resides i.e., Urban and Rural.
  2. Gender i.e., male and female.
  3. Education level i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary.

Geographic

This section shows:

  1. Under- and unemployed of the active youth labour force by gender and education level, with values provided in absolute numbers and percentages.
  2. Proportion of youth employed within the dominant economic sectors (Accommodation, Wholesale & Retail, Education, Manufacturing, Construction). Others include the lesser-employing economic sectors of Agriculture, Mining, Electricity & Water, Construction, Transportation & Storage, Information & Communication, Financial Institutions, Public Administration, Professional Administration, Health, Arts & Entertainment.
  3. Population near diverse economic opportunities, which is the proportion of the population that is near economic activity. It is derived from Nighttime Lights and serves as a proxy measurement of economic activity.
  4. County gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in comparison to the national GDP per capita.

Active Labour Gap Analysis

This section highlights the underserved and unserved youth population by the initiatives.

Job Initiatives

This use-case provides a breakdown of the current and ongoing initiatives by their type, scale, gender and education focus. Multiple selection between the four categories can be made and the results will be displayed on the county map. A table is generated with summary information of the initiatives based on the selection. Column visibility button allows addition or removal of columns to display on the initiatives table which can be locally exported as a CSV or PDF. The map can be exported as a PDF.