• Overall, the private sector created 46,100 jobs in 2019 compared to 57,600 jobs created in 2018.
• There was, however, a suppressed growth in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries at 0.8 per cent in 2019 compared to 1.6 per cent realized in 2018.
Image: JACK OWUOR
The Economic Survey released on April 28, indicated that employment in the modern sector increased by 2.6 per cent to 3,091,100 persons in 2019 from 3,012,100 persons in 2018.
This means that 67,800 jobs were created in the modern sector during that period in review.
According to the report, the informal sector created 767,900 new jobs, which constituted 90.7 per cent of total new jobs created outside of small-scale agriculture.
Further, the total number of self-employed and unpaid family workers within the modern sector was estimated to have increased from 152,200 persons in 2018 to 162,700 persons in 2019.
During the review period, the share of the private sector employment remained at 70.5 per cent as recorded in 2018.
Overall, the private sector created 46,100 jobs in 2019 compared to 57,600 jobs created in 2018.
In 2019, the leading industries providing wage employment in the private sector were manufacturing; agriculture, forestry and fishing; and wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, accounting for 15.9, 14.4 and 13.0 per cent of the total private sector employment, respectively.
There was, however, a suppressed growth in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries at 0.8 per cent in 2019 compared to 1.6 per cent realized in 2018.
The slower growth in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries mainly resulted from changing and unpredictable rain seasons, which greatly affected farming activities. Employment in human health and social work activities recorded the highest growth at 6.1 per cent in 2019.
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities; administrative and support service activities; and other services activities, registered increases in employment by 5.4, 4.9 and 4.7 per cent, respectively.
During the review period, wage employment in the public sector registered a 2.6 per cent growth compared to an increase of 1.2 per cent recorded in 2018.
Leading activities that contributed to the increase in employment levels in the public sector were Education; and Public Administration and defense; compulsory social security, which accounted for 42.7 per cent and 35.2 per cent, respectively.
Human health and social work activities recorded the highest growth (6.4 per cent) in employment.
This was followed by Arts, Entertainment and Recreation; and Education activities, which grew by 4.5 per cent and 4.0 per cent, respectively, in 2019.