It was demonstrated in this study that major policy documents in Kenya premised employment and overall economic growth to grow in tandem. In the first two decades after independence, the empirical facts show that the nexus between growth and employment has considerably weakened. The implication therefore being that if employment creation is to be taken seriously, then an assessment of the dynamics in the paper would be necessary because the mere targeting of high rates of economic growth will not suffice. The report identified the existence of an informal or Jua Kali sector, which was considered instrumental in facilitating employment creation and income generation, especially among the lower-income segments of the population. In the context of this paper, informal and Jua Kali sector employment refers to self and non-wage employment. It is characterised by labour market insecurity such as low job tenure, absence or weak enforcement of core labour and employment regulations, weak framework for social protection and high levels of employment flexibility. This definition includes typical forms of employment such as small scale consultancies, which are unregulated but are at the same time highly paying and are the depositories of some of Kenya’s highly skilled workforce.
