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How to create jobs in the era of automation
Youths enrolled in Kazi Mtaani demonstrate over delayed payment of their dues in this picture taken on September 24, 2020.
What you need to know:
- The government should look for a feasible solution that will instill hope — by creating decent jobs.
- A good job is consistent 30-plus hours a week with a pay cheque from an employer.
The economy has been on an upswing in the past two decades. Statistics show GDP is at Sh11 trillion, making Kenya the sixth-wealthiest in Africa. But GDP does not rhyme with the unemployment rate, which the World Bank data show is increasing.
Jim Clifton, the Gallup chairman, says in The Coming Jobs War that jobs and GDP live together, are cause and effect of each other. But not here, it seems. The political and business leaders know they need to do more to prepare workforces for the labour market in an age of rising automation, stagnant wages and greater part-time, temporary and contingent employment.
The rising hopelessness among, mostly, youth is due to uncertainty in part-time jobs. The government should look for a feasible solution that will instill hope—by creating decent jobs.
“What the whole world wants is a good job,” writes Clifton. “Humans used to desire love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace and freedom more than anything else. The last (sic) 30 years have changed us. Now people want to have a good job, and they want their children to have a good job.
Boost economic growth
“This changes everything for world leaders. Everything they do — from waging war to building societies — will need to be carried out within the new context of the need for a good job.”
A good job is consistent 30-plus hours a week with a pay cheque from an employer. That’s the ultimate marker for world leadership – how many people have a good job. If you have a good job, your well-being is higher than when you and I are trading a chicken for hay.
Government and business leaders need to view the relationship between growth and labour markets the other way around. By upgrading their social contracts and better equipping the citizens to navigate the world of work, they can boost economic growth and development.
The government should increase public and private investment in the citizens’ capabilities, the best way to durably grow productivity.
Mr Walyaula is a journalist. [email protected]
