NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya has recorded a 58 per cent drop in the number of jobs advertised since the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in the country on March 13, the latest BrighterMonday statistics show.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the employment sector hard across the world with job losses being recorded in millions. The Kenyan job market has not been spared by the scourge. There has been a drop in the number of jobs advertised on BrighterMonday and other job aggregators as Covid-19 took hold and lockdown measures were implemented,” says Mr. Emmanuel Mutuma, Chief Executive Officer, BrighterMonday Kenya.
“Many positions in the travel and hospitality sectors were frozen in the first weeks when the virus hit Kenya. Other sectors soon followed with most companies laying off their employees and others sending them on unpaid leave,” he adds.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), over one million people in Kenya lost their jobs due to companies closing or businesses downsizing to survive the economic downturn brought about by the pandemic. In some instances, sectors like the hospitality and travel industries have faced total shutdowns, forcing companies to send their staff home on unpaid leave or layoffs.
As expected, the biggest gainers were in essential services such as healthcare and safety at 700 percent, trade, and services at 327 percent, agriculture, and farming at 170 percent, quality assurance, and control at 113 percent, among others. Unlike other markets, job opportunities in property and real estate increased by 125 percent. This has been attributed to people disposing property in an effort to maintain liquidity. Working remotely also gained a lot of ground in the past few months.
Hospitality and travel and building and architecture industries were most hit with the cessation of movement and gathering restrictions recording a drop of 47 percent and 75 percent respectively. Consulting and strategy services dropped by 20 percent while Community and Social Services, and Project and Product Management dropped by 36 percent and 37 percent respectively.
Industries that showed minimal decline include creative and design, marketing and communication, legal services, human resources and administration among others.
The slow demand on recruitment has also impacted professional networking site Linked In which mid this month said will cut about 960 jobs.
The California-based LinkedIn helps employers assess a candidate’s suitability for a role and employees use the platform to find new job.
As lockdowns to contain the coronavirus have hit businesses around the world, LinkedIn’s business has been hit as companies lay off staff or sharply curtail hiring.
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