Kenyan workers among best in Africa
Money & Careers
By
Dominic Omondi and Otiato Guguyu
| Oct 16, 2018
The future of Kenya’s workforce seems bright with the country’s future personnel ranked the fourth on the continent.
According to the latest Human Capital Index report, the World Bank ranked Kenya behind Seychelles, Mauritius and Algeria. Globally, Kenya was ranked 94 with a Human Capital Index (-) score of 0.52.
Seychelles ranked 43 globally with a score of 0.65; Mauritius 52 with a score of 0.60 and Algeria 93 with a tie score of 0.52, matching that of Kenya.
Except for Algeria, Mauritius and Seychelles, Kenya ranked position one when compared among the large economies in sub-Saharan Africa.
The index ranked 157 countries based on their health and education outcomes and their impact on productivity.
READ MORE
Expert: The shilling has regained value, but don't expect it to last
Unearthing the artifacts of WWII: A journey through Matuu and beyond
Roam, County Bus Service partner to deploy 200 electric buses
Budget cuts loom for Parliament thanks to Sh9.6b Bunge Towers
Private sector partnerships important to catalysing sports
Tax stand-off as boda boda riders defy county call to pay
Islamic banking gets traction in Africa as Salaam Bank feted
Data privacy major challenge for Kenya's digital space, report
Angola ICT Minister: Invest in space industry to ensure a connected, peaceful Africa
The ranking shows that more Kenyans are healthier and get a good education.
“This means the expected productivity, as a future worker, of a child born today in Kenya, provided all indicators stay at the current level - is 52 per cent of what it could be with the complete education and full health,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said in a statement.
Mr Rotich said the State will continue to invest in health, education and support the vulnerable to give Kenya an HCI score of one.
This would raise the expected productivity of a future worker, he said.
Good education
The 18th edition of the World Bank’s Kenya Economic Update showed that Kenya’s spending on education accounts for 20.3 per cent of the total expenditure in financial year 2015/16.
The report noted that spending on health accounted for 6.4 per cent of total expenditure.
Another report by the World Bank showed that Kenya is suffering from misallocation of talent with highly skilled people stuck in the unproductive informal sector or subsistence farming.
- How General Ogolla's departure hampers Ruto bid to win over hearts in lake region
- Expert: The shilling has regained value, but don't expect it to last
- Budget cuts loom for Parliament thanks to Sh9.6b Bunge Towers