Ruto: Unemployment has been in the country even before I became president
By Nancy Marende, July 9, 2025President William Ruto has called on leaders to stop inciting youths against the government based on the issue of joblessness, as this concern had been present before he assumed power in 2022.
Speaking during his assessment of the construction progress at the 540 housing units’ project at Kilimani Police Station in Nairobi County on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Ruto stated that his administration has a plan to address unemployment in the country.
“People want to lie that youths have lacked jobs since I became president. Unemployment has been in the country before I became president. I want to ask, did all the youths of this country have jobs before I became president?” he posed.
According to the Head of State, unemployment is a crisis because the country has never had a plan to address it since the previous administrations.
“The reason why unemployment is a bigger issue is that the country has never had a comprehensive plan to ensure that youths have jobs. It was never sorted out in the previous governments. I am sorting it now; I am working on it,” he stated.
He also highlighted the programmes his government has put in place to provide Kenyan youths with jobs, such as the Affordable Housing Programme, the Kazi Majuu initiative, and digital job opportunities.
“I have ensured youths get jobs in this country; 320,000 are employed in the affordable housing program, about 200,000 in the digital jobs framework, and 400,000 youths are working outside the country through the Kazi Majuu program.
Unemployment in Kenya
This comes a few days after experts in career development, recruitment, and human resources pointed out that skills mismatch continues to fuel unemployment in Kenya despite a well-educated young population.
According to a report by career development and recruitment solutions company BrighterMonday Kenya released on July 4, 2025, the country’s universities, colleges, and other training institutions are churning out up to two million individuals into the job market against an average of 800,000 jobs created, mainly in the private sector with low opportunities within government.
The majority of them, however, lack the right skills being sought by employers, the firm says, leading to low absorption, with just 10 per cent of the workforce in formal employment.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reports that the number of Kenyans without jobs increased to 2.97 million (a 3 per cent rise) following the elections, amid reduced hiring and suppressed earnings.
More than half of the unemployed are between the ages of 20 and 29 years old, with about 800,000 new job seekers annually.