Employment

Unemployment Rate
40%
Labor Force Participation Rate-Men
87.3%
Labor Force Participation Rate-Women
74.4%
Data derived from CIA World Factbook

The vast majority of Kenyan workers, approximately 75%, work in farming (Kenya Advisor, 2009). Farming is a job that does not require a formal education. Most people in Kenya are farmers. Since Kenyans lack in technology necessary for education after high school, they need a job that does not require much formal education (Mulama, 2009). The soil in Kenya is also rich in nutrients which crops like coffee and tea need to thrive. Farmers in areas of Kenya that do not have good soil herd cattle (Kenya Advisor, 2009).
More men work than women. A lot of the time the woman in the family stays at home and births and takes care of the children instead of working. Since the women of Kenya do not have much access or knowledge about contraceptives they are unable to work a lot of the time because they are at a point in their pregnancy when it is dangerous to work. This is apparent through Kenya’s birthrate of 36.64 births/ 1000 population (CIA, 2009).
Kenya has a high unemployment rate for a couple of reasons. One reason is that Kenya is still suffering the consequences of a drought in 2000 (Kenya Advisor, 2009). This drought killed several crops lowering Kenya’s supply of crops to sell. Then in 2002 there was too much rain which drowned many crops again decreasing the supply (Kenya, 2009). When the supply is decreased like this, the farmers make less money. When the farmers make less money they have to cut back in several areas, including employees. Kenya has naturally high unemployment because so many people want farming jobs but there is only so much land in Kenya so there can only be so many farmers. There are not many jobs other than farming available.
Kenya does have a minimum wage of 2,536 Shillings per month to protect workers (CIA, 2009). The government implemented this current minimum wage in 2009 to keep up with inflation (CIA, 2009). Kenya also has some unions like the Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers and the Union of Journalists (Kenya Advisor, 2009). Overall Kenya has some major unemployment issues.

References:

Kenya Advisor. "Who Are The Kenya People?" Kenya Advisor. N.p., 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. http://www.kenya-advisor.com/kenya-people.html.

United Nations. "Kenya." UNdata. United Nations, 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. < crname="Kenya">.

CIA. "Kenya Economy." CIA World Factbook. CIA, Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html.

Mulama, Joyce. "On The Way To Getting Wired." IPS. IPS, 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. .