NAIROBI, Kenya
Job seekers based in Nairobi are ready to relocate to different counties or even countries provided to get employment, a new survey shows. According to Employment Survey 2014 released by Corporate Staffing Services (CSS), a local HR consulting and recruitment firm, 72.1% of the employed would move to different counties if an opportunity came up, while 84.6% of the unemployed would do so.
“County governments have recently been advertising many jobs and Nairobi job seekers are ready to move,” said the CSS’s MD, Mr Perminus Wainaina. Most of the employed are willing to change jobs for better salaries (at 35.8%) and job security (22.1%).
Other motivating factors are matching skills with work, better working environment and appreciation of their efforts. The survey revealed that a growing number employers in Kenya, including the public sector, have resorted to casual, temporary, part-time, contract and outsourced workforces to reduce labour costs and exert greater control over labour.
“This allows the de-politicisation of hiring and firing that makes it easier for employers to avoid labour legislation and the rights won by trade unions,” the report read.
The survey targeted 386 respondents both employed and unemployed between December 2013 and January 2014 comprised 61.9% male and 38.1% female. 57.8% of the respondents were between 18 and 29 years, 34.9% 30 and 49 years and 6% between 45 and 54 years. It exposes challenges faced by job seekers and factors that motivate them towards career changes. It also gives a rating of how job seekers view the current job market and what will motivate their career decisions in the months and years ahead.
