Decent Work Study in Agriculture 2017: Pilot Survey (Kenya)

Abstract

The Global Strategy to improve Agriculture and Rural Statistics (GSARS) and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) have administered a survey in three counties near Nairobi where most households are engaged in agriculture. The survey captured information on the household’s agricultural activities, as well as detailed information on individuals’ employment and work activities over the last week and the last year. In addition to employment and unemployment estimates, four different measures of underemployment are estimated. All four indicators are useful in depicting labour force performance. The time-related underemployment and skill-based underemployment indicators capture underutilization of labour across all levels of employment. On the other hand, the last two indicators: the measures based on the quality, and security of employment; better describe employment at the bottom of the employment spectrum. They are proxies for those who would be unemployed if formal safety nets were in place and unemployment was an option. In contrast to what is presented here, in a high-income European country where unemployment benefits are provided, the unemployment rate would probably be higher and the estimates for the last two indicators would be smaller.