| dc.description.abstract | This paper analyses the effect of globalisation on the labour market outcomes
in Kenya using micro datasets complemented with secondary data. The analysis
shows that during the economic reform period (1970s to 1990s), employment
creation dramatically increased in the informal sector but most of the jobs
created are more insecure. The jobs created also pay less compared with jobs
lost in the formal sector. Labour force participation in urban areas increased
for both men and women but declined in rural areas especially for women.
Unemployment also increased both in rural and urban areas and especially for
women in urban areas. The increase in unemployment and the expansion in
informal sector employment is partly due to retrenchment in the civil service,
increased school dropout, collapse of some private firms, and retrenchment in
other private firms due to stiff competition from imports following trade
liberalization. The reform period also experienced a shift in labour demand in
favour of highly skilled labour, a decline in permanent full-time workers, and
an increase in part-time workers and casual workers. This signals a cost-cutting
strategy where firms replace permanent employees with part-time and casual
workers to make savings in terms of paying less benefits. Real earnings for all
workers declined during the reform period until the mid-1990s when they
started increasing again. | en |
