For more than four and a half decades now, the Kenya government has continuously
articulated the need to create sufficient employment opportunities to absorb the
country’s growing labour force. Just like in many other developing countries,
unemployment and underemployment have been identified as Kenya’s most difficult
and persistent problems (Republic of Kenya, 1969; 1983; 2008b; 2008c).
Government policies have defined the youth as those between the ages of 15 and 30 or
even 35. Kenya’s National Youth Policy and the National Action Plan on Youth
Employment (2007-2012), for example, defines youth as persons resident in Kenya aged
15-30 years (Ministry of Youth Affairs, 2006). Article 260 of the Constitution of Kenya
(2010) defines youth as the collectivity of all individuals in the Republic who have
attained the age of 18 years but have not attained the age of 35 years. The Sector Plan
for Labour, Youth and Human Resource Development (2008-2012) defines youth as
those aged between 15 and 35 years. Youth is a transition phase from childhood into
adulthood. It is also the transition from being dependent on others to being independent.
Key in this transition is access to a job. This makes the quantity and quality of jobs
available to the youth to be of critical importance.