Mjengo industry left suffering as Gen-Zs troop to content creation

Youth in Nairobi are increasingly shunning the back-breaking mjengo jobs, leaving the traditional sector to be run by old men and the millenials.

The young people today, popularly known as Gen-Zs, would rather engage in soft economic activities like content creation, Forex Trading and other online money-making activities that do not really need sweat and muscle.

Juma Kizito, who works as mason, told Wananchi Reporting that many young people do not want to carry bricks and mix mortar for a paltry Ksh 250.

“I have been in mjengo for over 25 years, but I can tell you that the job has now been left to old people, and millennials. Most young people today don’t want these hard jobs,” said Juma.

Juma, who himself learned through apprenticeship many years ago, fears the sector will struggle in the coming years.

Philemon Origi, who works at construction sites, as 'mtu-wa mkono', doing just about any available task, says mjengo has been left mostly to villagers arriving in Nairobi to start life, or jobless millennials with pressing family needs.

“Occasionally, one or two Gen-Zs come to try their hands in mjei, as they call it, but then they don’t come back the following day. It’s a tough job, it needs strong men, and even women,” says Philemon who is 45-years old.

Many believe that the age of internet and digital economy is already disrupting Kenya's informal sector, which is the leading employer at 83 per cent. Only a small number of Kenyans are formally employed.

A report by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection State Department for Labour, indicates that the Kenyan economy has a formal sector that is shrinking, and an informal sector that is expanding, creating 8 out of 10 all new jobs outside agricultural sector.

The informal sector mostly absorbs high school leavers, and graduates from vocational and technical training institutions with the majority of the jobs found in urban towns.

According to the report, the average wages for the unskilled worker ranges from Ksh7,000 in rural areas to Ksh14,000 in the large towns. The most skilled informal workers earn over Ksh 20,000 per month.

The Gen-Zs seem to want more money, and with very little effort or sweat.

Moses Okoko, a third-year university student says most of the young people in campuses today engage in online economic activities.

“I know many of my friends, even classmates, who are actively involved in cryptocurrency; young people buying and selling meme coins. Many others are trying their hands in other new online economic activities,” he says.

“In fact, a majority of those who rushed to have their eyeballs scanned when World Coin came to Kenya were university students, young people some of whom I knew personally. I think things have changed, and we young people are embracing the digital economy,” said Moses.

Moses says that it's very uncommon these days to find university students going out there to do hard labour jobs like mjengo as a hustle. 

Meanwhile, according to the Federation of Kenyan Employers, the overall unemployment rate in Kenya is at 12.7 percent.

Youth aged (15 – 34 year olds) who form 35 percent of the Kenyan population have the highest unemployment rate of 67 percent, with over one million entering into the labour market annually without any skills.