Sickness, Lack of food among leading worries of informal sector workers

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 21 – In the thirty days since Kenya reported her first case of the coronavirus, Kenyans have increasingly become a worried lot.

A new study which surveyed informal sector workers has put lack of food as the leading source of worry at 36 percent, followed by getting sick at 19 percent and exhausting their savings at 15 percent.

The study, conducted by Professor Amos Njuguna of United States International University – Africa’s, puts inability to pay bills at third place, followed by job loss.

The least of worries expressed by the study’s respondents are children not going to school at 5 percent and inability to congregate for worship at 2 percent.

In the past month, incomes of the workers in the sector have reduced by 51.2 percent, greatly affecting those in peri-urban counties and those more than 53 years. According to the study, the problem is exacerbated by anxiety as it is not known when it will end.

Furthermore, 83 percent of the respondents had not received any form of support, while those who had received were mostly employed thus portraying a self-seeking behavior

“Although significant disparities in income between men and women are not found, women are more worried about getting sick and children not going to school out of the crisis compared to their male counterparts,” Professor Njuguna said.

The study had 447 respondents, of which 59 percent are casually employed in across different sectors, among them manufacturing, agricultural farms, domestic work, hair dressing and alcohol bars among others.

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