Kenyans doing digital jobs for multinational firms earn up to five times less than their counterparts in countries with established digital work structures.
This is despite undertaking a similar scope of work with those in already developed nations, but under tougher conditions.
Despite the government’s push for more Kenyans to outsource digital jobs, it is emerging that the country is yet to set up working conditions for these workers.
In recent months, a section of Kenyans—especially Generation Z— have been actively seeking online jobs as a means of earning a living, driven by the increased cost of living due to heavy government taxation.
However, with demand for these jobs growing faster than the legislation to control them, Siasa Place CEO Nerima Wako says that despite the vast potential of the sector, Kenyans are still earning minimum pay.
“And I’m not a worker. We represent workers. And it’s simply because if they were to sit here and see the amount of salaries they receive, the paper talks about a third to a fifth in comparison to American citizens in the work that they do,” said Wako.
Speaking at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom release of its policy paper on how Kenya can make its business process outsourcing industry globally competitive, she said Kenya is not doing ‘well enough’ as there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of collaboration and partnership with organisations that do have this analysis and information.
“Right now, it’s not even close to a fraction. And even when we talk about the amount of money that they bring to their families, they’re still struggling. They can’t even really sit in a middle-class bracket,” added Wako.
According to the National Study on Digital and Digitally Enabled Work in Kenya released by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) in 2021 at least 1.2 million Kenyans are working online, earning an average of Sh20,773 per month.
With Kenya’s youthful population projected to increase by 19 million in 2035, industry players are projecting that the government will not be able to match the number with job availability.
Currently, Kenya is one of the main hubs for this kind of outsourced duty as it continues to be a country desperate for work.
The unemployment rate is as high as 67 per cent among young people. The Principal Secretary for the State Department for ICT and Digital Economy, John Tanui, however, maintains that by focusing on the digital superhighway and ensuring that all parts of Kenya are connected, the country is laying a strong foundation for supporting BPO work in Kenya.
On timelines for BPO jobs, Head of Presidential Special Projects & Creative Economy Denis Itumbi said though bureaucracy is an issue with any government, the digital superhighway is at the manifesto level, so it’s a government deliverable.
Despite these efforts, Kenyans remain underpaid for tasks such as transcribing, data entry, social media management, coding, and virtual assistance.
A recent New York Times investigation (released in 2022 ) revealed that Kenya also hosts a Facebook group for academic writers with over 50,000 members, shedding light on how high internet penetration and job scarcity contribute to practices like academic theft.
Director of Foreign Service, David Katiambo, added that leveraging the diaspora and building Kenya’s brand internationally could accelerate growth in the sector.
According to the paper, with 26
per cent of the global online workforce originating from India, Kenya’s
path to becoming a competitive digital outsourcing hub depends on addressing wage disparities, improving
work conditions, and implementing
robust policies to support its burgeoning workforce.
