Evaluation of The Contribution of Manufacturing Support Interventions to Employment in The Manufacturing Sector Under Kenya's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) (2022-2025)

Despite Kenya's several successive efforts to boost inclusive economic growth and job creation, unemployment continues to be one of the most severe socio-economic challenges the country is facing. The Government of Kenya has acknowledged the strategic importance of industrialization in creating productive jobs by developing the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) (2022 – 2027) which prioritizes manufacturing as a key sector to enhance value addition, industrialization, enterprise development and create jobs. The study estimated the impact of BETA manufacturing support interventions on job creation in the manufacturing sector in Kenya for the period 2022-2025. Specifically, the study looked at how manufacturing support interventions are applied under BETA, looked at the trends in manufacturing sector and employment in Kenya, and looked at how much these manufacturing support interventions helped create employment. This study is based on the Developmental State Theory and is a desk-based research approach. It used only secondary data collated from government policy documents, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Kenya Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), World Bank, International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), African Development Bank (AfDB) and peer-reviewed scholarly publications. The analysis of data was done by documentary analysis, thematic content analysis and descriptive assessment of the trend of manufacturing and employment activities. The results show that manufacturing support interventions under BETA, such as County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs), Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Processing Zones (EPZs), investment promotion, industrial infrastructure development, local value addition interventions, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) reforms and support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), have enhanced Kenya's manufacturing ecosystem and have had a positive impact on employment creation through both direct and indirect employment opportunities. The research also showed that these interventions contributed to improved industrial investment, to enterprise development, to value addition and to labour absorption in the manufacturing value chains. Yet their potential for full employment has been hampered by continuing structural problems such as high production costs, access to cheap industrial finance, lack of infrastructure, technological inadequacies, regulatory delays, and growing competition in the international market. Finally, the study finds BETA has laid a solid policy ground to support the revival of the manufacturing sector and job creation in Kenya through smart state interventions. However, such measures as ongoing implementation, greater industrial investment, better public–private cooperation, better infrastructure, more accessible finance, and ongoing investment in technical skills training are key to unlocking the potential of the manufacturing sector to create productive, sustainable jobs for people.