Employment, Incomes and Equality: Lessons of the ILO Employment Strategy Mission to Kenya

Abstract

In 1969 the ILO launched a World Employment Programme to mark its fiftieth anniversary. The core of the programme was a series of exploratory missions to different countries to investigate the nature of the employment problems each country was facing and what could be done about them. The IDS was asked to take the lead in the first three of these programmes—to Colombia, Sri Lanka and Kenya. In the event the Kenya mission attracted most attention, in part because of its comprehensive approach to the problems of employment, poverty and inequality and because for the first time an international report mentioned the informal sector and emphasized its importance. The report also gained attention because it integrated economic growth and actions to reduce inequality in proposals for a strategy of redistribution from growth, a concept originated by Hans Singer himself during the mission. The whole Report is far too long for this reader but this article written in 1972 summarizes its main approach and conclusions.

Singer, H. and Jolly R. (1973) Originally published as ‘Unemployment in an African Setting: Lessons of the Employment Strategy Mission to Kenya’, International Labour Review 107.2.