A container ship leaving the port of Mombasa (file). Photo: Ian Kiptoo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
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EPZ job openings fall 44pc over US trade doubts.
Job creation in Kenya's Export Processing Zones has dropped sharply, with more than 5,000 fewer new job openings recorded in the year to June because of uncertainty over trade access to the United States.
EPZs created only 6,732 job openings in the year ended June 2026, down 44.2 per cent from 12,069 the previous year, according to the State Department for Investment Promotion. Officials said the drop reflects delayed factory expansion plans and some companies exiting the zones as they waited to see whether Kenya would keep duty-free access to the US market.
What this means for workers
The figures count new job openings created, not existing jobs that were cut, so they measure missed opportunities for young jobseekers rather than layoffs of current EPZ workers. Kenya's EPZs, largely garment and textile factories, employ tens of thousands of workers, many of them young women, producing clothing for export.
The uncertainty eased slightly this week after the US Congress passed a stop-gap funding bill extending the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which grants duty-free access, through the end of 2028. Manufacturers had held back hiring decisions while AGOA's future was unclear, and the extension is expected to give factories more confidence to expand in the coming year.
This story was put together by K N N from material first published by NTV Kenya.
That was a Kibra News Network report, read by an A I voice.
Job creation in Kenya’s Export Processing Zones has dropped sharply, with more than 5,000 fewer new job openings recorded in the year to June because of uncertainty over trade access to the United States.
EPZs created only 6,732 job openings in the year ended June 2026, down 44.2 per cent from 12,069 the previous year, according to the State Department for Investment Promotion. Officials said the drop reflects delayed factory expansion plans and some companies exiting the zones as they waited to see whether Kenya would keep duty-free access to the US market.
What this means for workers
The figures count new job openings created, not existing jobs that were cut, so they measure missed opportunities for young jobseekers rather than layoffs of current EPZ workers. Kenya’s EPZs, largely garment and textile factories, employ tens of thousands of workers, many of them young women, producing clothing for export.
The uncertainty eased slightly this week after the US Congress passed a stop-gap funding bill extending the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which grants duty-free access, through the end of 2028. Manufacturers had held back hiring decisions while AGOA’s future was unclear, and the extension is expected to give factories more confidence to expand in the coming year.
KNN Newsroom is the staff byline for stories written, rewritten and edited at the Kibra News Network desk. Where a story credits an outside outlet, the original source is linked at the foot of the piece.
