Some African nations transfer workers overseas in an effort to develop their economies

Hundreds of them wait in line to meet recruiters in convention centers in big cities and schools in small villages; some have advanced degrees, while others have just completed basic school.

In one of its most ambitious employment programs to date, the Kenyan government hopes to fill one of the million positions it has set out to fill this year.

Kenya is not where the jobs are. They are in wealthy nations like the Middle East, Europe, and other regions, where officials hope that young Kenyans can acquire knowledge and earn money that will strengthen the country’s economy.

Lydia Mukii, a 27-year-old clinical psychologist, commented, “There are no job opportunities here, so we are left with no option but to go outside Kenya,” at a government-sponsored job fair in Machakos, a town in the south-central region of Kenya. Recruiters handed out glossy flyers that advertised jobs in Denmark as farm laborers and in Germany as preschool teachers.

The fairs are a component of Kenya’s first coordinated attempt to promote labor migration in order to further the country’s development.

For many years, Asian nations like Bangladesh and the Philippines have made sending people overseas a central part of their development plans. However, the strategy has not gained much traction in sub-Saharan Africa, where disgruntled residents have accused nations like Kenya of avoiding their obligation to provide jobs domestically.

That is beginning to change. Some African countries that lack adequate jobs for their quickly expanding populations are attempting to take advantage of the global labor shortage as fast-aging nations look for workers to support their economy.

In Machakos, Kenya’s labor minister, Alfred Mutua, told Reuters, “We have a very important resource called the human resource.” In November, he began a recruiting campaign throughout Kenya’s 47 counties. “We can … export our labour and make a lot of money.”

The reasoning behind looking for work abroad is straightforward for both the government and job seekers: barely 5% of the approximately one million Kenyans who join the workforce each year get official positions. The wages in the targeted nations are far higher than those in Kenya, and a portion of the earnings are sent home to family members.

Sharp demographic changes are at the heart of the government’s calculations. By 2050, Africa will be the only area in the world with a declining ratio of dependents to working-aged individuals, according to UN projections, while the continent’s working-age population is expected to increase by around 1.5 billion by 2100.

However, there are hazards associated with the policy, such as the growing anti-immigration sentiment in the US and many European nations.

According to opinion surveys, anti-immigration sentiment is growing in Germany, which inked an agreement with Kenya last September to loosen certain restrictions for companies looking to hire talented Kenyan workers.

With its left-leaning parties behind in the polls behind right-wing competitors who have made tightened immigration policies a key component of their campaigns, the coalition that reached the agreement now faces a snap election on February 23.

The deal with Kenya was based on a 2023 law that aimed to increase imports of talented labor, but the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) rejected it, claiming that the law’s definition of skilled labor was too wide.

Regarding its intentions for the law and the Kenya deal, the CDU, whose leader Friedrich Merz is frequently predicted to be the next chancellor, did not respond to inquiries.

According to Rene Springer, an AfD spokeswoman, the law has been “disastrous” and has to be “fundamentally reformed” to guarantee that only highly qualified professionals are permitted to enter.

The communications department of the ruling coalition directed Reuters to the Interior Ministry when it was questioned about Springer’s comments. Ministry official Henning Zanetti declined to comment but cited data indicating that between October 2023 and September 2024, visa issuances to skilled workers increased by about 15% annually.

Mutua expressed little worry about the election in Germany, stating that the nation will continue to require skilled labor regardless of the result.

WORKER SHORTAGES

Comprehensive statistics on the export of African labor overseas are lacking. However, according to Mutua, the Kenyan government has helped more than 200,000 workers leave the country in the last two years and plans to export one million annually for the following three.

In addition to supporting job fairs, he added, the government has been assisting those who have been offered jobs in completing background checks, applying for passports, and obtaining bank loans to pay for their journey.

Additionally, it is negotiating agreements with other nations and collaborating with vocational schools to modify their curricula to meet the needs of other labor markets. Shearing sheep is currently being taught at one university with the goal of sending students to Australia.

Ethiopia plans to send 700,000 workers overseas in the year ending in July, seven times more than in fiscal 2023, according to labor ministry spokeswoman Abebe Alemu, who told Reuters that the country launched an online system four years ago to assist in matching people with openings abroad.

In order to transfer more workers overseas, Tanzania said in November that it plans to negotiate agreements with eight nations, including the United Arab Emirates. Questions for this story were not answered by the prime minister’s office or the labor ministry.

According to observers, some African governments view migration as a means of addressing unemployment, which can spark societal upheaval like the fatal anti-tax riots that erupted in Kenya last year.

According to Michael Clemens, a migration economics expert at George Mason University in the United States, some wealthier nations are beginning to view formal labor agreements as a preferable alternative to massive, irregular migrant flows.

“What is the substitute for this, I wonder? Do you honestly believe that if you don’t make these agreements, migration won’t occur in our future? “Clemens said.”

A few leaders have conceded to the reality of the population. Following a push to reduce immigration, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing administration in Italy, which has the second-oldest population in the world, raised the amount of work permits granted to non-EU nationals.

Germany’s ambassador to Kenya, Sebastian Groth, stated that his nation was seeing the effects of a skilled labor shortage that might affect up to 400,000 people annually.

“We have restaurants and hotels in Germany that close on some days of the week just because they don’t have any waiters or chefs or hospitality experts,” he stated to Reuters.

The hot-button subject of asylum seekers, which has dominated the election campaign since an Afghan asylum seeker was caught in a fatal stabbing last month, is frequently confused with the problem of importing trained people, he added.

Non-governmental organizations in Germany and Kenya were collaborating more on labor migration even before a formal agreement was struck.

In an effort to address a predicted shortage of 500,000 nurses by 2030, Mount Kenya University and Koblenz University of Applied Sciences partnered to send 14 Kenyan nursing students to Germany in April, including 26-year-old Ian Kiprono. The students worked in a Bad Mergentheim hospital and studied at the same time.

“Germany is a pleasant country. According to Kiprono, the people are friendlier than they appear to be.

The weather and the language have been his major obstacles.
He said, “It’s very cold; we haven’t experienced that in Kenya,” as a freezing raindrop pelted the glass front of the hospital.

A POLITIC BACKLASH

Some economists were concerned that the boost from remittances would be temporary, but a growing body of research has demonstrated that labor mobility benefits sending nations’ long-term growth. However, politics are also complex in the nations of origin.

The government of Kenya is accused by opponents of the migration program of not producing jobs domestically. Skepticism has also been fueled by reports of abuse of migrants in various Middle Eastern nations, where millions of Africans already labor.

Mutua, who frequently receives criticism on social media for encouraging a “slave trade” in response to his tweets about recruiting events, said that formalizing the procedure will better shield Kenyans from fraudsters and human traffickers.

A lack of skills required at home is another concern shared by many Kenyans. For instance, according to a 2023 labor ministry study, Kenya has fewer than one-third of the 44.5 health professionals per 10,000 people that the World Health Organization recommends.

Since the government lacked the resources to recruit all of the health personnel, Mutua said it made logical to transfer them outside.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union’s deputy secretary general, Dennis Miskellah, refuted the claim. He claimed that the most qualified and experienced Kenyans are often hired by international hospitals, and that very few of them ever go back home.

“Younger people are now losing out on teachers,” he stated.

The route is still difficult for professionals who are eager to travel elsewhere.

Around 4 a.m., job seekers began to line up to register at the Machakos employment fair in the pouring rain. Private recruiting firms representing companies in over a dozen countries then sent them to schools for interviews.

52-year-old Nicholas Mutunga Mwongela, a former Saudi Arabian freight operator, arrived optimistic about his future.

He was upset to hear that the agency demanded almost $4,000 to pay travel and other expenses, even though he had been given a preliminary contract to work at a Polish meat processing facility for 24 zlotys ($5.87) per hour net.

After two months, he stated that he needed to acquire 160,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,240) for upfront recruiting costs before he could attempt to obtain a bank loan.

AJW Africa’s CEO, Jane Mwangi, stated that it was crucial for job searchers to have “skin in the game” and that loans were available to cover the majority of these costs.

The labor minister said that it was the responsibility of job applicants to learn about the terms of employment when asked about agency fees.
Mwongela is still hopeful.

“Once I get the money, I think I’ll be going,” he said. “I have the experience; I have the expertise; I have the exposure.”