Kenya: Capturing Skills Requirements and Assessing Skills Gaps in the Modern Economy

In Kenya, skills constraints are reported to have a detrimental impact on job creation and labor market outcomes. Employers have reported concerns with the level and relevance of a broad set of socio-emotional skills and cognitive skills amongst job applicants and recently hired workers. These skill gaps affect firms' competitiveness (ability to grow and create more jobs), as well as productivity (better wages). Evidence of job dissatisfaction on both the demand and supply side suggests that workers are not being matched with the right jobs. Three policy implication are derived from these results. First, worker mobility and resilience to new challenges requires the continuous upgrading of skills through on-the-job and other training opportunities. Second, with the projected population growth rate (for young people) there is an urgent need to foster high productivity jobs, as well as jobs that are inclusive (to vulnerable populations). Third, in order to address the skills mismatch, comprehensive labor market information is needed to guide students and jobseekers by providing unemployment data, job vacancies and the level of wages by occupation type.