Across East Africa, a generation is coming of age faster than economies can create jobs. The region is home to one of the youngest populations in the world. According to the United Nations, 70% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is under the age of 30. Eastern Africa is even younger, with a median age of just 18.5 years, compared with a global median age of 30.6 years.

While population growth is slowing across much of the world, Africa remains the exception. The continent’s population has grown from 283 million in 1960 to more than 1.5 billion today and is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050. For East Africa, this demographic shift presents both promise and pressure. The East African Community (EAC), including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is now home to more than 419 million people.

Millions of young people are entering adulthood with aspirations for work, financial independence, and a better future. The challenge is that many economies are struggling to create jobs at the same pace. Economic growth alone has not solved the problem. Countries across the region continue to post strong growth figures. Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda have all recorded solid economic expansion in recent years.

Yet employment creation has lagged. Across Africa, an estimated 10–12 million young people enter the labour market every year, but only about three million formal jobs are created.

Kenya reflects this wider regional challenge. About 500,000–800,000 young people enter the job market each year, yet opportunities remain limited. The result is a familiar picture: graduates competing for a handful of vacancies, skilled workers accepting jobs below their qualifications, and growing frustration among a generation that is more educated and connected than any before it.

The signs are often visible in recruitment exercises. In 2023, when security firm G4S advertised 150 vacancies, more than 2,000 applicants reportedly turned up. In another case the same year, thousands of former National Youth Service graduates sought a few hundred positions advertised by the Kenya Defence Forces. Such scenes highlight the scale of demand for employment.

OAT (Open African Tribune) East spoke to some of the university graduates who are currently doing manual jobs despite being highly qualified in their skills.

“I graduated six years ago with first-class honours after studying a Bachelor of Science. I now operate a food kiosk to make ends meet. It has been tough to get employment, and I wasted a lot of time and got frustrated the whole time,” said a Kenyatta University graduate.

John Peter works at a security company in Nairobi, Kenya. He spoke to OAT East about his struggle in finding employment opportunities after completing a diploma course in education.

“I joined a teaching college thinking it wouldn’t be hard for me to get employed. It has been 15 years of no luck in getting hired. As years went by, I had to take up this job though it doesn’t match my qualifications,” he said.

Governments have responded with a range of initiatives. Kenya alone has launched programmes such as Kazi Mtaani, the Ajira Digital Programme, the Kenya Youth Employment Opportunities Project, internships, and enterprise funds. Similar interventions exist across the region. While these programmes have created opportunities for many young people, they have not fully addressed the gap between the number of job seekers and the number of available jobs.

At the same time, a different challenge is unfolding elsewhere. Across Europe, populations are ageing, and birth rates are declining. On 01 January 2025, people aged 65 and above accounted for 22% of the European Union’s population, while children under 15 represented just 14.4%. Countries such as Italy now have some of the oldest populations in the bloc. As workers retire, labour shortages are emerging in healthcare, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, hospitality, and transport.

This growing mismatch between labour supply and labour demand is reshaping how governments think about employment and migration. For Kenya, the answer increasingly lies beyond its borders. Rather than treating migration solely as a social issue, the government is positioning labour mobility as an economic strategy.

Labour diplomacy is becoming a central part of Kenya’s foreign policy, connecting the country’s young workforce with overseas opportunities through structured and legal pathways. The question now is whether exporting labour can become more than a short-term response to unemployment and evolve into a lasting pillar of economic development for Kenya and the wider East African region.

Kenya’s strategy and bilateral agreements

The answer emerging from Nairobi is increasingly clear: labour export is no longer being treated as a temporary response to unemployment. It is becoming a central pillar of Kenya’s economic and foreign policy.

Over the past two years, Kenya has accelerated what officials describe as labour diplomacy, using bilateral agreements and migration partnerships to create structured pathways for citizens to work abroad.

The approach reflects a broader shift in thinking. Rather than viewing migration solely through the lens of border control or diaspora affairs, the government is positioning labour mobility as a tool for job creation, skills development, and international cooperation.

A major milestone came in September 2024 when Kenya and Germany signed a Comprehensive Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement. The deal opened pathways for skilled professionals, tradespeople, apprentices, and students to access opportunities in Europe’s largest economy.

The agreement was particularly significant given Germany’s need for an estimated 400,000 foreign workers annually to help address labour shortages caused by an ageing population.

In July 2026, Ambassador Isaiya Kabira, Secretary for Diaspora Investments, Skills and Entrepreneurship, representing Principal Secretary (PS), Roseline Njogu, officiated a hybrid pre-departure orientation for 31 graduates of Kiambu Polytechnic who were set to travel to Germany under the pilot Kenya–Germany Labour Mobility Programme.

The pioneering cohort comprises 20 hospitality graduates under the DEHOGA Programme and 11 landscaping graduates who have completed technical training, German language instruction and workplace-readiness preparation aligned to the requirements of employers in Germany.

This is one of the developments that showcases how Kenya has expanded its labour diplomacy footprint.

Agreements and labour mobility frameworks also extend to countries including Austria, Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey.

PS for the State Department for Labour and Skills Development, Shadrack Mwangolo, in an interview with OAT East, said currently Kenya has established a Bilateral Labour Agreement with several countries.

“About two years ago we signed a Bilateral Labour Agreement (BLA) with Germany, and there are many job opportunities that are opening up in that country. But we also have bilateral agreement with Qatar for all professionals and therefore any Kenyan irrespective of his or her qualifications can as well be able to access the labour market there. We have a BLA with UAE for all cadres also, so we have Kenyans working as professionals in that country,” PS Mwangolo said.

The PS also added that Kenya has BLA with Saudi Arabia, but it’s limited to domestic workers. However, he clarified that it does not limit Kenyans from going to work as professionals in that country.

“We know of several finance experts who are working there. We know of several engineers. I was interacting with an engineer in the Oil industry sector about four days ago in my own home county who is working there. So despite the fact that we have not yet signed a BLA for all professionals in Saudi Arabia does not limit Kenyans from working there, so long as their rights are observed as required,” he said.

The latest and perhaps most comprehensive addition to this network came on 02 July 2026, when Kenya and Italy signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Migration and Mobility in Nairobi.

Unlike some earlier agreements that focused primarily on recruitment and worker placement, the Italy MoU adopts a broader government-to-government framework.

It combines labour migration with vocational training, language preparation, skills development, worker protection, and cooperation against irregular migration.

The agreement also seeks to improve public awareness about the risks associated with illegal migration while promoting legal and ethical pathways for employment abroad.

Prime Cabinet Secretary of Kenya, Musalia Mudavadi, described the deal as evidence that Kenya’s diplomatic engagements are increasingly translating into practical economic benefits for its citizens.

“Beyond labour mobility, we reaffirmed our commitment to expanding cooperation in trade and investment, education, energy, technology, aerospace and tourism sectors that hold immense potential for job creation, innovation and sustainable development,” he said after the signing ceremony.

The deal aligns with Italy’s wider Mattei Plan for Africa and follows Kenyan President William Ruto’s official visit to Italy in April 2026. For Kenya, it represents more than another labour agreement. It signals an effort to build long-term labour corridors that connect Kenyan workers with overseas opportunities while embedding safeguards, skills training, and institutional cooperation into the process.

How Kazi Majuu turns agreements into jobs

The next challenge is translating those agreements into real opportunities for ordinary Kenyans seeking work beyond the country’s borders.

That is where Kazi Majuu comes in. Launched by the government through the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, Kazi Majuu is the practical engine behind Kenya’s labour diplomacy strategy. Its goal is simple: connect skilled and semi-skilled Kenyans with legitimate overseas jobs through structured and regulated pathways.

The programme operates as a bridge between international demand for labour and a growing pool of jobseekers at home. Rather than leaving workers to navigate overseas recruitment on their own, the government works with foreign governments, employers, and licensed recruitment agencies to identify vacancies and match them with suitable candidates.

Those opportunities span a wide range of sectors and professions. During diaspora job fairs and recruitment drives, candidates are pre-screened and linked to employers seeking teachers, nurses, information technology technicians, mechanics, painters, warehouse workers, and other skilled and semi-skilled personnel.

The initiative forms part of a broader government employment strategy that includes Kazi Kwa Ground, Kazi Mtandaoni, Kazi Baharini, and Kazi Majuu. However, unlike domestic employment programmes, its focus is on creating pathways into international labour markets.

One of the biggest barriers facing many successful applicants is cost. Securing a job offer does not automatically mean a worker can afford to travel. Visa fees, medical examinations, documentation, and air tickets can place overseas employment beyond the reach of many qualified candidates.

To address this challenge, the government partnered with the Youth Enterprise Development Fund to provide migration loans of up to KSh300,000. The loans target young people who have already secured verified jobs abroad but lack the resources to cover pre-departure expenses.

Preparation is another key part of the programme. Workers undergo pre-departure training and orientation designed to help them understand the laws, workplace expectations, culture, and rights in their destination countries. The government has also introduced reforms aimed at speeding up training, certification, and deployment while strengthening oversight of recruitment agencies.

These steps ensure no person is conned out of their hard-earned money, after many cases came to light due to some private recruitment agencies engaging in unscrupulous practices to help Kenyans access the international labour market.

“We have the National Employment Authority. Any private recruitment agency that is registered and accesses job opportunities abroad is required to have those job opportunities attested in our embassies abroad. A member of staff in our embassy will go out and verify whether these jobs do exist or not.”

“If they do exist, then they’ll give a word that the jobs are there to allow the National Employment Authority to upload those job offers on their website, and they indicate the name of the private recruitment agency that has sourced those jobs,” the Labour PS clarified to OAT East.

For the government, Kazi Majuu extends beyond the provision of employment opportunities and is increasingly positioned as a key element of national economic planning.

Speaking at the 19th Ambassadors Conference in March 2026, the Kenyan President said more than 540,000 Kenyans had secured employment opportunities abroad through the programme.

He linked its success to rising diaspora remittances and instructed Kenyan diplomats to identify new labour markets while ensuring workers remain protected.

The model is ambitious. Yet its long-term success will ultimately depend on whether enough overseas opportunities exist to absorb Kenya’s growing workforce and whether those jobs deliver the security and dignity that workers are promised.

Where the jobs are and why the world is looking for workers

For now, global trends suggest the demand is real. Across Europe, labour shortages are no longer being driven by economic cycles or temporary disruptions. They are increasingly the result of demographic change. As people live longer and have fewer children, the number of retirees is growing while the pool of working-age people is shrinking.

As of 01 January 2025, the European Union (EU) had an estimated population of 450.6 million people. More than one in five residents were aged 65 and above. By 2050, nearly 30% of Europe’s population is expected to fall into that age bracket, while the working-age population continues to decline.

The consequences are already visible across the continent. Hospitals are struggling to recruit nurses and doctors. Construction companies cannot find enough skilled tradespeople. Manufacturers are competing for technicians and machine operators. Hotels and restaurants are searching for workers, while logistics firms face a persistent shortage of drivers and warehouse personnel.

Healthcare remains one of the most critical sectors. Europe’s health and care industry employs around 25 million people, yet shortages of doctors, nurses, caregivers, and healthcare assistants continue to grow as ageing populations place greater pressure on health systems.

Construction faces a similar challenge. Countries such as Germany and Austria are seeking electricians, welders, carpenters, heating and ventilation technicians, and other skilled tradespeople needed to support housing projects, infrastructure development, and the transition to cleaner energy systems.

Demand also remains strong in manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality, transport, and logistics. European employers are actively recruiting machine operators, mechanics, farm workers, chefs, hotel staff, truck drivers, and warehouse coordinators to fill vacancies that local labour markets can no longer adequately supply.

This is one reason European governments are increasingly looking beyond their borders. Migration is no longer being viewed solely through the lens of border management. It is becoming an economic necessity.

The EU has already introduced measures aimed at attracting more foreign workers. Recent reforms have simplified work and residence permit applications, while the new EU Talent Pool is expected to connect employers directly with skilled workers from outside Europe.

For many Kenyans, these opportunities are arriving at a time when jobs remain scarce at home. Government recruitment drives for overseas positions routinely attract thousands of applicants. The large turnouts seen at labour mobility recruitment events reflect both the demand for work and the growing belief that opportunities abroad can offer a path to a better future.

Many who have already made the move say it has transformed their lives. Some have secured stable careers, improved their living standards, supported families through remittances, and even started businesses in their new countries.

We spoke to some of the healthcare workers who migrated to the UK, and this is what they had to say.

“As soon as I completed a four-year course in nursing, I seized the opportunity in 2014. It is the best decision I ever made because even though I’m still here, I have invested in my country and mentored others on the path to follow if they want to achieve their career goals,” the paediatric nurse said in an interview with OAT East.

For destination countries, the search for workers is becoming a long-term necessity. For Kenya, it is increasingly becoming a long-term opportunity. The question is whether both sides can sustain a partnership that benefits workers, employers, and economies alike.

Economic gains: remittances and employment

For Kenya, the appeal of labour migration extends far beyond reducing unemployment. The workers leaving for jobs in Europe, North America, and the Gulf are also generating income that flows back into homes, communities, and the wider economy.

The numbers help explain why the government has embraced labour mobility as an economic strategy. In 2024, remittances from Kenyans abroad reached a record $4.95 billion (about KSh638 billion), making them one of the country’s largest sources of foreign exchange.

According to President William Ruto, remittances now bring in more money than several traditional earners, including tea, coffee, and tourism. Those funds help strengthen foreign currency reserves, support household spending, and provide capital for investment.

At the household level, the impact is often immediate. Money sent home by workers abroad helps families pay school fees, meet healthcare costs, build homes, start businesses, and cope with economic shocks. For many households, remittances provide a financial lifeline that would otherwise be unavailable through local employment opportunities alone.

Labour migration also offers relief to a domestic labour market that continues to struggle to absorb a rapidly growing workforce. Kenya creates jobs each year, but more than 800,000 young people are estimated to enter the labour market annually.

While formal employment has expanded in recent years, most jobs remain in the informal sector, where incomes are often unstable, and productivity is low. Overseas employment offers an alternative pathway for some workers while easing pressure on the local job market.

Supporters also point to the potential for skills transfer. Workers who spend years abroad can return with new technical skills, professional experience, savings, and business networks. If properly harnessed, those assets can contribute to entrepreneurship and economic growth at home.

Despite these opportunities, economists caution against viewing labour export as a complete solution. Remittances can support development, but they cannot replace the need for stronger industries and job creation within Kenya itself. The challenge is ensuring that overseas employment complements domestic growth rather than becoming a substitute for it.

That tension lies at the heart of the debate over Kenya’s labour export strategy, and it becomes even more apparent when examining the risks that accompany the opportunities.

Risks: Exploitation, Irregular Migration, and Brain Drain

The greatest danger is often not migration itself, but migration that happens outside regulated channels. As demand for overseas jobs grows, so does the number of people willing to exploit desperate job seekers.

Kenya has witnessed cases involving fake recruitment agencies, fraudulent job offers, contract substitution, human trafficking, and workers who arrive abroad only to discover that the jobs, salaries, or working conditions promised to them do not exist.

Recent cases illustrate the scale of the challenge. Authorities have rescued Kenyans trafficked into cybercrime operations in Myanmar and have repatriated workers stranded in countries including Saudi Arabia, India, and Lebanon.

Other investigations have uncovered networks that recruited unemployed young Kenyans for military service in Russia under the guise of legitimate employment opportunities. These cases highlight how vulnerable job seekers can become when economic hardship meets weak oversight.

Even workers who migrate through legal channels can face serious challenges. Human rights organisations have documented cases involving Kenyan domestic workers in the Gulf who reported excessive working hours, unpaid wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, and restrictions on their freedom of movement.

While many migrant workers have positive experiences abroad, such reports demonstrate why labour agreements alone are not enough. Effective enforcement remains critical.

The government has responded by strengthening bilateral agreements, expanding oversight of recruitment agencies, supporting labour attachés abroad, and advancing new legislation aimed at improving workers’ protection.

PS Mwangolo reiterated that there is a guarantee that any Kenyan worker working abroad will not find himself or herself in a wanting situation. The Labour Ministry has introduced a toll-free number for them to call when in distress.

He also encouraged Kenyans to get in touch with the labour attaches deployed in Kenyan embassies, who are supposed to know the location where they are going to work. He said the labour attaches also know the company, the employer by name, and the telephone number that enable them to reach the workers abroad in case of any trouble.

“Kenyans finding themselves in trouble while working abroad, the numbers are not as huge as they used to be before. It’s because some of these countries of destination have been cited negatively even at the International Labour Conference, so they are trying to change things.

Secondly, it’s because we are signing bilateral agreements that are human rights-based to protect the interests of our workers when they are out there,” the Kenyan Labour PS said.

In addition, a proposed Labour Migration and Management Bill introduced in 2023 seeks to tighten regulation, establish a migrant workers welfare fund, and improve emergency support for distressed workers overseas. There is also a longer-term concern: brain drain. As skilled nurses, doctors, engineers, and other professionals leave for better opportunities abroad, Kenya risks losing talent urgently needed at home. Labour migration can create jobs and generate income, but without strong safeguards and investment in domestic opportunities, it can also leave behind economic and social costs that are harder to measure.

Can Labour Export Become a Long-Term Development Model?

Those concerns bring us back to the question at the centre of Kenya’s labour diplomacy strategy: can exporting labour become a sustainable development model, or is it simply a response to today’s unemployment crisis?

The answer is likely somewhere in between. The global demand for workers is not expected to disappear anytime soon. Europe’s ageing population, labour shortages in healthcare, construction, logistics, manufacturing, and care services, and the growing need for skilled workers across developed economies suggest that opportunities for labour migration could remain strong for decades.

For countries such as Kenya, this creates an opening that previous generations did not have. Labour is increasingly becoming an export alongside traditional commodities, services, and tourism. Kenya is also not alone. Across East Africa, governments are paying closer attention to labour mobility as a source of employment, foreign exchange, and international partnerships. As migration pathways become more structured and destination countries compete for talent, labour diplomacy could emerge as one of the region’s fastest-growing economic sectors.

Yet the experience of countries that have relied heavily on overseas employment offers an important lesson. Labour migration works best when it complements domestic development rather than replaces it. Remittances can support families, create investment opportunities, and strengthen national economies, but they cannot substitute for strong industries, quality jobs, and economic transformation at home.

Kenya’s experience with Kazi Majuu and bilateral labour agreements may therefore provide a glimpse into the future of labour diplomacy in East Africa. The challenge will be ensuring that workers leave by choice rather than desperation, that their rights remain protected, and that the skills, savings, and experience they gain abroad eventually contribute to development back home.

If governments can strike that balance, labour export may become more than an employment strategy. It could become one of the defining economic opportunities of the next decade. If they cannot, it risks becoming a temporary solution to a much deeper problem.