Middle-income earners have started downsizing amid the high cost of living, a move that is denying casual labourers jobs.
Over the years, the sophisticated lifestyles of Kenya’s middle-class and wealthy had meant that they could spend on luxuries such as manicures and pedicures every two weeks, and hire cleaners and private chefs for their homes, in addition to the nannies who take care of their children.
However, with the passage of the Finance Bill 2023, the cost of living has skyrocketed as goods and services attract new taxes and levies, eating into the disposable income of many Kenyans.
A majority are gradually reducing their frequency to nail parlours which charge up to Sh5,000 per visit. Some are considering buying washing machines and vacuum cleaners to cut out the daily expenses of paying for cleaners.
Aidi Kihima, a Nairobi resident, says she had had to ditch the cleaning ladies, commonly known as mama fuas, to manage her bills.
“For the past two months, I’ve been doing my own laundry every evening after closing my shop, whose sales have also dropped,” says the beddings seller.
“I used to pay mama fua Sh1,000 every day she came to clean my house. Then the bedding business was thriving, because Kenyans desired comfort and luxury. For now, few are buying and it just hit me that paying Sh1,000 for a single visit is quite high,” she says.
Milkah Kagia, who walks from Nairobi’s Kibera to Kileleshwa daily, is among the Kenyans who seek cleaning jobs from well-to-do households.
She has noticed a drop in business.
At Nairobi’s Kileleshwa junction, she sits with dozens of women waiting for work. However, as the economy worsens, finding customers has become increasingly unlikely. They say noways they can sit from 6 am to 7 pm and go home empty-handed.
Nancy Muyumba, a mother of three and part-time domestic worker, says times have gotten tough. She now has to rely on middle- and high-income families, who prefer to hire housekeepers daily rather than retain live-in domestic workers.
Ms Muyumba pleads, “Please, give me a job even if it’s just for a day, all while carrying her baby on her back. “It’s becoming harder and harder every day to find clients in need of our services.”
Underpaying clients
To survive the harsh times, some Kenyans have started paying less than the agreed amount of pay.
“These days, some clients pay less than the amount we agreed upon. You tell them the laundry service costs Sh1,000, but once you’re done washing their many clothes, they pay as little as Sh200, which doesn’t meet any of my needs,” Ms Muyumba says.
A survey conducted by research and market intelligence firm Ipsos Kenya last week shows that to cope with the cost of living, Kenyans over the age of 45 are opting not to buy certain items at all, also denying small-scale traders a source of livelihood.
About 26 percent of this age group reported this trend.
Rose Kamau, a mother of two who lives in Nairobi’s Kahawa West has removed chicken from her menu.
“I no longer buy chicken, because I cannot afford it. We eat meat once or twice a week now. I used to buy about five litres of cooking oil, but now I only buy one litre. We live one day at a time. The children feel it and ask what is happening,” she says.
Irene Chepkoech, a sole proprietor in Eldoret says, “Life has become difficult. We even drink tea without sugar if we have milk. This has made life more bearable than trying to buy what I cannot afford.”
The beauty industry which hires thousands of young Kenyans as nail artists, make-up artists, hairstylists, masseuses and others will be the most affected as the middle class simplifies their lives.
Neema Aura, a university student, says she used to do her manicure and pedicure two to three times a week, “but now I can go without them for months. It’s not a priority at the moment; it’s a necessary adjustment.”
Jemimah December, a hairdresser at Royale Hair and Beauty Shop in Nairobi, says she’s already started seeing a drop in customers.
“I’m no longer getting the same number of customers I used to at the start of the year. Most of my customers are women, and the number has steadily decreased because everyone is feeling the effects of the economy,” she says, adding on some days, she doesn’t even have a single customer stop by her salon. “It’s become difficult for my business since there are days where I don’t serve anyone,” she laments.
New priorities
According to Ms December, getting a manicure or pedicure is no longer a priority for many people.
“In a harsh economy, services such as pedicures, are now seen as luxuries that people are not making a priority,” she says.
On average, a BDLife survey showed a Kenyan woman spends over Sh20,000 a month to buy face products starting from moisturiser and primer, sunscreen, then foundation and concealer, eye pencil or eyebrow pomade, eyeliner or mascara, lipstick, and blush powder.
However, many are reducing the number of beauty items as households struggle to pay for basic expenses.
Kate Mugure, who also runs a beauty parlour, has also observed a decline in the number of customers who purchase her cosmetics. She attributes the slump to the high cost of living.
“Most of my previous customers no longer buy the skincare products as often as they did,” she says, adding, “The items are collecting dust on the shelf. The high cost of living has had a tremendous impact on me and other Kenyans.”
For households with a gross monthly income of Sh100,000 and below, comparing prices to find bargains and buying the same items far less frequently are the most popular ways of coping with the cost of living, each cited by 27.0 percent of the Ipsos survey respondents.
Leonard Ngatia, a 24-year-old entrepreneur, says, “I used to be able to purchase more expensive items, but now I have to settle for the cheaper ones,” he says. “It’s not ideal, but I have to make the best of the situation.”
Giving up buying certain items altogether was cited by 23.0 percent of respondents in this income category.
The least popular ways of coping with the rising cost of living among those in this income group are buying in bulk from a wholesaler and buying smaller packs of the same items, both cited by 19.0 percent of respondents.
Of the households with a gross income of Sh300,000 and above, 43.0 percent reported they had postponed buying some items, making this the most common approach used by individuals in this income category to cope with the rising cost of living.
This is followed by 30 percent of households who report buying the same items much less frequently as their main approach to coping with the rising cost of living.
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