NAIROBI, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Economic analysts on Friday urged Kenya to invest in skills training in order to lower the level of unemployment.
Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) CEO Kwame Owino told a media briefing in Nairobi that between 2007 and 2016, the rate of unemployment has increased by 67 percent.
"This can be partly attributed to the growing labor force whose skills do not match the requirements necessary to fulfill the employment responsibilities of different jobs," Owino said during the launch of the policy debate for five socio-economic issues in Kenya.
According to the Ministry of Labor, current overall rate of unemployment stands at about 11 percent but the unemployment rate among the youth has hit 22 percent.
Owino noted that the informal sector employment figures has grown from 7.5 million in 2007 to 13.3 million in 2016 while the number of people working in formal sector has increased by 710,000 in the same period.
"This could be an indication that tertiary and vocational training institutes are not producing graduates that the job market demands," Owino said.
Government data indicates that approximately 16 million in employment, out of which 13.3 million are in the informal sector.
The CEO said one solution to the growing problem of unemployment is subsidizing education and vocational training courses.
"This will improve the uptake of skilled training by members of the public for use in formal employment," said the analysts.
IEA also called for the targeted subsidized education for women, youth and persons with disability in order to reduce the overall unemployment rate.
