Construction to create 36pc new jobs for youth by 2030

The construction industry is poised to create 35.7 percent or the majority of new jobs in Kenya between now and 2030 on the back of a building boom and a surge in urban and general population in the country.

Projections by the data firm World Data Lab (WDL) indicate that at least 507,000 of the expected 1.42 million new jobs for young people – aged 15 to 35 – will be in construction, beating new jobs created by all other sub-sectors.

This will result from a growing demand for new houses in urban areas, with the urban population also projected to boom as the agriculture sector– the main economic activity in rural Kenya– diminishes.

“The [growth] forces are due to demographic changes and urbanisation, and some economic momentum that will push people to want to buy or rent many new types of houses,” said Wolfgang Fengler, WDL chief executive officer.

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The projected new construction jobs over the next six years are more than double the expected 212,000 employment slots that will be created by the education sector, which will provide the second highest number of new jobs over the period.

Currently, the construction sub-sector is estimated to employ 1.03 million young people, the third largest employer of youth, after retail and wholesale trade, which employs about 2.4 million, and agriculture, where 3.7 million young Kenyans currently work.

The services sector, the largest employer, has about six million young Kenyans working in it, or 52 percent, with the industry and agriculture sectors employing about 16 percent and 32 percent respectively, according to the Africa Youth Employment Clock, a newly-launched data portal for youth employment statistics on the continent.

The service sector jobs include those in education, accommodation and food, financial and insurance, human health and social work, public administration and defence, real estate, transport and communication, and wholesale and retail trade, among others.

Industry jobs are in construction, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and utilities, while agriculture employment opportunities are in farming, fishing, and forestry.

But by 2030, the agriculture sector is expected to shed at least 70,000 jobs as new young people upskill and seek employment in other sectors such as the construction industry which are forecasted to boom.

Over the same period, construction jobs are expected to hop to 1.5 million for young people, increasing the proportion employed by the overall industry sector to 18.7 percent, as that of the agriculture sector drops to 27.7 percent.

While the service sector will also create new jobs, every sub-sector will create much fewer jobs compared to the construction sector.

Jobs for youth in retail and wholesale trade, currently the second top employer, will rise by just 175,000, while those in real estate and transport will increase by 187,000 and 186,000 respectively.

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An estimated 110,000 new jobs will come from accommodation and food services, 32,000 from mining and quarrying, and 12,000 from utilities.

The Africa Youth Employment Clock, created by WDL, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, is a publicly available data portal on youth employment on the continent to aid informed policy-making and business.

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