Youth in major crisis as jobs remain scarce, study shows

Kenya’s biting unemployment crunch has left the youth in crisis, with a vast majority of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 reporting that they make less money than they need to pay for basic needs.

Political upheaval, economic decline and lack of jobs has diminished opportunities for the youth, leaving them disillusioned and cynical about their futures.

In a new study by research and communications firm Well Told Story, only 4 percent of young people claimed to be financially fit, where financial fitness is defined as having “an independent income and generate enough to set some money aside (as savings and/or assets) to be prepared for surviving a crisis and taking advantage of opportunities”.

The number of youth living in poverty seemed to have increased from last year, with 63 percent saying that they do not have money to cover basic needs, compared to the 49 per cent who said the same last year.

JUST ENOUGH

Another 34 percent said that they have just enough money to cover the basics, but nothing more. Only a very small number has money left over to save for the future.

Half of those polled said that lack of money is the biggest deterrent in achieving their dreams, and even those who cited lack of education and opportunity pointed out that those problems could be fixed if they had money.

Those that earn enough are doing so by moonlighting on top of their regular jobs.

MOONLIGHTING

“Most youth source money from at least two different income-generating activities: 83 per cent of those who work (for an employer or for their own company) also report a side job and/or occasionally grow and sell produce; among students 21 percent earn money through petty jobs,” said the authors of the report.

A majority (63 per cent) report feeling angry and disappointed with how the country is governed, possibly pointing to the political crisis that plagued the country during the electoral period.

They say that they feel “excluded and voiceless” and left out in the cold with little information about governance processes, even those that are aimed at them.

Further, many female respondents reported feeling disenfranchised, saying that they “don’t even know if they care about politics”.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

When the youth were asked about what it takes to gain political leadership in Kenya, they gave very different requirements for men and women.

While men were only expected to primarily have money, women were required to have money and a stable family – “well-behaved and capable husband” and “disciplined kids” to qualify as a leader.

“It is more difficult for a young female than for a young male to engage in politics and rise to the ranks of a leader. The requirements silently imposed by the community are almost unachievable, and females tend to give up and disengage at higher rates than males,” said the report.

This points to existing societal attitudes about women in leadership, where the bar for them is set much higher and they are more likely than men to be punished politically for having dysfunctional families.

Finally, most young people are having sex, and some become active even before their teenager years.

According to the report, two out of three youths are sexually active and one in five start having sex before their 16^th birthday.

“Curiosity and peer pressure are the key early motivators for sex; later on sex becomes a tool for getting tangible and intangible benefits,” states the report.

The use of contraceptives, though, remains at best inconsistent among young people. Ironically, 65 percent state that getting pregnant or getting a girl pregnant would be a big problem right now.