Employment casualization in Kenya, the systematic conversion of permanent worker positions into temporary or contract-based arrangements, accelerated dramatically from the 1980s onwards as employers sought to reduce labour costs and regulatory compliance burden. This transformation fundamentally altered the employment landscape, affecting millions of workers through reduced security, wages, and benefits.
The casualization process began in agriculture and construction during the late 1970s economic crisis when employers faced simultaneous wage pressures and reduced profitability. Rather than maintaining permanent workforce at negotiated wages, employers hired seasonal workers for discrete periods at lower daily rates with no benefits. Tea and coffee estates that employed permanent workers year-round transitioned to hiring casual labour during harvesting seasons (3-4 months annually) while reducing permanent core workers.
Manufacturing followed similar patterns in the 1980s-1990s. Large factories maintaining permanent workforces were restructured to employ core permanent workers supplemented by casual workers for overflow production. Casual workers received 40-60 percent of permanent worker wages, created job flexibility without productivity gains, and prevented collective action by creating competition between casual and permanent workers for limited positions. This dual-labour-market system systematized wage depression.
Economic liberalization (1991-1995) accelerated casualization through explicit government policy. Structural adjustment programs included labour market deregulation explicitly authorizing casual employment arrangements and limiting permanent hiring. Government corporations privatized during this period immediately converted permanent workers to casual status, reducing labour costs 30-40 percent. Employers argued that casualization improved efficiency; actually, it extracted value from workers through reduced security.
The transport sector experienced rapid casualization through matatu (minibus) networks and trucking companies that contracted with driver-owner combinations rather than employing drivers directly. Drivers nominally self-employed bore all operational risk and costs while remaining subject to operator control over routes and revenues. Similarly, security firms formalized previous informal hiring into casualized contracts, providing security services to clients while denying security employees standard protections.
By 2000, casual workers exceeded permanent workers in many sectors. Food processing, cleaning, security, agriculture, and transport relied primarily on casual labour. Government employment casualization extended to health, education, and administration where contract workers provided services without permanent position security. The proliferation of casual workers reduced union bargaining power as employer could credibly replace organized permanent workers with casual labour.
Casualization's impacts concentrated on particular demographic groups. Youth entered labour markets finding only casual positions available, preventing accumulation of secure employment histories. Women and workers from marginalized communities experienced casualization disproportionately, as employers preferentially hired these groups for lowest-wage casual positions. Migration patterns shifted as workers accepted temporary positions away from home communities, destabilizing family structures.
See Also
Labor Informalization, Employment Contracts, Informal Economy Workers, Factory Workers Conditions, Labor Deregulation, Liberalization Labor, Wage Inequality
Sources
-
Freeman, Richard B. (2010). "Globalization and Inequality." NBER Working Paper 15732. https://www.nber.org/
-
Roncolato, Lucia and Kvangraven, Ina Helene (2014). "Structural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa." Review of African Political Economy, 141: 400-419. https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rapo
-
Oya, Carlos (2012). "Contract Farming in Sub-Saharan Africa." Journal of Agrarian Change, 12(1): 1-33. https://www.jstor.org/