Why Kenya's 'A' students are failing in the school of life

Kenya's universities produce over a million graduates annually, but formal jobs absorb only a fraction. [File, Standard]

Kenya created 822,100 new jobs in 2025, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), yet most graduates continue to enter an economy that absorbs them unevenly, with nearly nine in 10 of those jobs in the informal sector.

The data points to a widening gap between education outcomes and labour market absorption, where academic achievement does not automatically translate into stable employment.