Shortage of Skilled Workers Pushes Up Construction Costs

Kenya’s shortage of skilled construction workers is delaying projects at a critical time when the country needs to put up more houses and infrastructure.

Two-thirds of developers who responded to a recent study by CK said a lack of skilful workers is a major factor limiting construction activity, coming close to limited access to finance which was reported as a difficulty by 70 per cent of respondents.

The chronic shortage of skilled workers has pushed up labour costs in the past few years – forcing some developers to turn to uncertified artisans thereby compromising standards.

Another study by CK found that daily dues for certified artisans had more than tripled to between Sh2,500 and Sh3,000 from Sh500 to Sh1,000 in 2012. Artisans operating in major towns charge more.

This has been corroborated by official statistics from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) which show that compensation for workers in the construction industry rose to Sh16.87 billion in 2016 from Sh8.84 billion in 2012 – representing a 90.8 per cent upsurge.

Interestingly, the number of workers engaged in the sector grew at a much slower pace over the period – signalling a protracted labour crunch amidst a boom of real estate and mega infrastructure projects.

According to the KNBS data, a total of 148, 022 contractors were involved in the building and construction sector, up from 106,114 in 2012 – a 34.49 per cent growth.

“We’re currently witnessing double-digit percentage wage inflation,” says Gerald Mungai, who is building a block of flats in Rwaka, Nairobi.

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Mr Mungai added that some developers, faced with the difficulty of finding skilled workers, are resorting to poaching workers from other developers’ sites by offering wage increases.

“There are plenty of developers that are ready to pay higher wages as long as the workers are skilled enough to provide the right quality.”

He lamented that the lack of a national skills database from which certified workers can be sourced has made it extremely difficult for property developers to hire qualified artisans as they have to rely on referrals, which are not always reliable.

The labour crisis has been blamed on recent trends where students shun technical education in favour of courses leading to office jobs.

The deficiency began to bite in mid-2012 as the sector slowly came to life after the 2008-2011 cool-off that coincided with the global economic recession.

During the slowdown, many developers postponed their projects due to a lack of finances – which rendered thousands of artisans jobless. As a result, the craftsmen were forced to look for work elsewhere and most of them have never looked back.

Meanwhile, the supply of fresh construction workers has weakened since 2012 when President Mwai Kibaki elevated a large number of technical colleges to universities, leaving only a handful of institutions to impart technical and vocational skills to students.

To salvage the situation, several organisations including the African Development Bank (AfDB) and German fund GIZ have recently launched initiatives aimed at shifting emphasis towards technical vocational training in a bid to develop requisite skills for the local and regional construction market.

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