Kenya has been named as the only country in Africa on the list of top twenty countries with the highest number of layoffs within the tech industry in 2024.
A report by BestBrokers, a publication that advises traders on the best stock market platforms showed that about 211,033 employees have so far been laid off in 194 companies.
According to the publication, the trend of job cuts was not showing any signs of slowing down, particularly within the technology sector.
The report attributed the companies’ decision to dismiss more workers to economic challenges, high interest rates and rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In Kenya, the mass layoffs were mainly witnessed earlier this year when one of the country’s leading e-commerce companies dismissed close to 350 workers.
Months after dismissing the employees, the company went ahead to shut down operations citing a change in the market environment and inability to sustain itself.
Globally, Kenya was ranked at number fourteen among countries with the highest layoffs this year.
Among the countries ranked top alongside Kenya included the United States, China, Germany, Japan, India, Turkey, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada and France.
Most of the companies claimed that they were forced to make job cuts to keep their businesses afloat in the face of microeconomic headwinds.
The latest report comes hardly a fortnight after the Stanbic’s Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) report revealed that the rate of job cuts went to below-normal levels for the first time this year.
In its September 4 survey report, Stanbic noted that most private companies in Kenya resorted to reducing their staff due to shrinking output.
However, the survey revealed that despite a diminished workforce, the decrease was marginal with the agricultural sector the most affected.
“Job creation ended in August according to the seasonally adjusted Employment Index, which dropped below the 50.0 neutral threshold for the first time in 2024 so far,” the survey revealed.
