A survey by Stanbic Bank has revealed that there was an increase of workforce in private firms for the fourth consecutive month in January.
The survey has shown that the rate of growth rose from the previous survey period and was just shy of October’s recent high.
“Capacity at the private firms came under pressure in January, as the level of incomplete business rose at a solid rate over the month,” the survey reported, citing increased workloads and backlog volumes as the main factors leading firms to hire new staff.
This resulted in higher backlogs which were generally linked to a rise in new work inflows, with some respondents also citing delays in the arrival of inputs.
This comes even as a report released in December 2020 by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates that nearly 1.18 million young unemployed Kenyans had given up the search for a job in the third quarter of the year.
According to the report, 54.95 percent of the 2.15 million people aged between 20 and 34 who were out of work did not attempt to look for a job four weeks to the end of September.
The Stanbic Bank Kenya PMITM is compiled by IHS Markit from responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 private sector companies in the country.
by Alice Gworo
