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Businesses that employ at least 10 fresh graduates from technical and vocational institutions will from Saturday enjoy a tax relief equivalent to half of the trainees’ salaries.

The relief starts on January 1 and will be offered to businesses that hire the graduates for between six months to a year, and is meant to boost skills development and stem Kenya’s high youth unemployment rate.

The Treasury made the changes in the Finance Act 2021 in a bid to open doors for the graduates from technical and vocational institutions to gain experience and earn cash like their counterparts from the universities.

“Any employer who engages at least 10 university or technical and vocational education and training graduates as apprentices for a period of six to 12 months during any year of income shall be eligible for a tax rebate in the year subsequent to the year of such engagement,” reads the changes.

Kenya has since 2016 extended the relief to firms that employ at least 10 university graduates. The changes come at a time of growing emphasis on technical and vocational institutions.

Fresh graduates from institutions of higher learning struggle for limited job opportunities due to a lack of specialised market skills and experience to perform tasks.