The number of unemployed in the last quarter is close to 3 million and prices are rising by an average of eight percent every month. This is the worrying economic and social situation in Kenya, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, which on Monday released its report on the state of the economy for the first three months of 2023.
The number of Kenyans out of work has risen to more than 2.97 million, bringing to light as much as possible the difficulties in the labor market in the wake of high inflation and reduced activity in the agricultural sector, which is where there is usually the most employment.
The number of unemployed has risen 2.94 percent since last November, and more than 80,000 permanent jobs have jumped in the months since the Aug. 9 general election.

More than half of Kenyans out of work, or 1.54 million people, are between the ages of 20 and 29, underscoring the growing youth unemployment crisis, and it is precisely the under-29s, especially high school graduates and college graduates, who have been hardest hit by unemployment amid an economic environment plagued by reduced hiring due to slowing corporate profits.

The calming of prices of basic necessities is also beginning to worry; inflation is rising and prices are responding accordingly. Take fruits and vegetables, for example, as noted in the report, the 2-kg package of flour in just one month went from kes. 179 to kes. 187, potatoes from 91 to 99, carrots from 95 to 103.
Electricity increased eleven percent, fuel fortunately only one percent.
It is clear that corrective measures will have to be applied, and it is hoped that the possible political understanding between the majority and opposition will bring some solution that cannot just be postponed by contracting more debts with international funds and banks or foreign powers. President Ruto has put on his plate the privatization of state-owned companies, mainly sugar refineries and large crops, but also the national airline Kenya Airways, which is in great economic difficulty but has a rising turnover, and some universities. Ruto at the same time is inviting individually and also through Brussels, European Union countries to invest in Kenya, promising tax breaks and removal of double taxation. We shall see.