Kenya’s unemployment rates have risen consistently over the years. Save for 2023, when there was a 0.12 percent decline from the 2022 rate of 5.81 percent, the COVID-19 pandemic and the immediate period thereafter witnessed a steady rise, consistent from 2019 through 2020 to 2021.

With GDP growth of 5.6 percent in 2025, the country’s unemployment rate is projected at 7.23 percent, higher than 6.61 percent in 2024 and even much higher compared with 5.68 percent in 2023. These projections mean that an estimated 1.95 million people will be unemployed, further aggravating the situation for the country’s largely youthful population bearing the brunt in their prime.

The impact of these rates on the youthful segment of the population has been cataclysmic. For instance, whereas the general rate of unemployment in Kenya stood at 5.68 percent in 2023, the youth unemployment rate was at 12.23 percent. And such rates may still not reflect the actual numbers of unemployed youth, based as they are on the UN classification of youth as 18-24 years.

The Constitution defines youth as 18-35 years, a categorisation that was tenuously contested by the old guard but convincingly pushed for by youth representatives at the National Constitutional Conference during the multi-stakeholder negotiation for Kenya’s Constitution in 2003-4. A much larger number of youth form the bulk of the population most affected by unemployment.

Unreliability of unemployment data aside, Kenya’s lack of a comprehensive labour migration policy framework, and weak coordination among government agencies are the bane of its migrant workers.

Due to the high unemployment rates and poverty levels, coupled with the increasing demand for domestic labour in the Gulf Corporation Countries (GCC), labour migration from Kenya has increased exponentially in recent years, with most migrants being young women 20-35 years old.

While a majority of the documented migrants have relatively low levels of education, severe joblessness has seen some university graduates enter the international domestic job market, a number of them from rural or informal urban settlements. As a result, Kenya is a major recipient of foreign remittances, with the Kenyan diaspora sending a substantial amount of money back home, a development that not only plugs into the country’s foreign exchange deficits but also contributes to poverty reduction, education, healthcare, and small business development here.

In recognition of the global impact of foreign remittances, and the emerging reality of cross-border movement of people irrespective of nationality, race, religion and social status, coupled with the push by agencies like the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission (AUC), advocating for free movement of people, labour mobility and skills portability without unnecessary hindrances, the United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Family Remittances, observed annually on June 16, in recognition of the contributions of migrant workers and their families.

In 2024, for instance, the Kenyan diaspora sent a record $4.94 billion (Sh640.75 billion), marking an 18 percent growth from the previous year, the bulk of these from domestic workers in the GCC states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar,  Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

But most of the migrants face significant challenges. From lack of immediate post-arrival assistance when they return to psychosocial, reproductive and occupational health support and financial issues, many migrants return with no savings; while others are forced into undocumented status in the foreign countries with the possibility of deportation.

Lack of return and reintegration support, negative attitudes and socio-cultural factors that stigmatise rather than celebrate them create limited prospects back home, hindering their reintegration. Lack of certification that leverages skills acquired abroad have compounded their plight.

Against this backdrop, the African Union Coordination Committee on Migration is working in partnership with return migrants, civil society, and relevant government ministries, departments and agencies on policy and legislative reforms to address the gaps.

— The writer is the Executive Director of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre, and Chairperson of the Horn of Africa Civil Society Forum