From left: Economic Planning Secretary Timothy Gakuu, KNBSÂ Chairman Stephen Wainaina, Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u, Economic Planning Principal Secretary James Muhati and KNBSÂ Managing Director Macdonald Obudho during the launch of the KNBS 2024 Economic Survey Report at KICCÂ on May 20, 2024.
Multilateral bodies and non-governmental organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations offer the best paying jobs while the dominant sectors like real estate and agriculture are among the least rewarding.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data released Monday showed bodies such as the UN were last year paying workers an average of Sh339,274 per month, making them the highest payers despite seeing one of the slowest (1.6 percent) pay rise during the period under review.
In the private sector, jobs in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sectors were fetching workers an average of Sh202,680 per month, becoming the second highest paying followed by financial and insurance activities (Sh190,151).
The top three highest-paying jobs in the public sector were in accommodation and food service activities (Sh234,698), transport and storage (Sh202,680) and financial and insurance services averaging Sh176,275.
Below Sh50,000
The lucrative jobs are in contrast to those where monthly pay is below Sh50,000 including those in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (Sh27,635), real estate activities (Sh29,339), agriculture, forestry and fishing (Sh33,790), accommodation and food services (Sh40,028) and mining and quarrying (Sh45,350).
This means that many of the job-rich sectors such as agriculture, which accounted for 344,300 jobs or 10.97 percent of the total 3.13 million people in wage employment, were fetching less pay.
Kenya’s economy relies on farming, which contributes more than a fifth of its annual economic output.
The sector is also the largest employer. About 83,200 people work in financial and insurance services.
The economy last year grew by 5.6 percent compared with 4.9 percent previously, powered by a recovery in agriculture, creating 848,100 new jobs.
The informal sector, which accounts for more than three-quarters of all employment in the country, accounted for 720,900 openings created, helping take the country’s total employment to 19.99 million from 19.14 million previously.
New formal sector jobs stood at 122,900 up from 109,300 recorded in 2022, a blow to the more than one million young people who graduate from colleges and secondary schools.
Workers’ search for high-paying jobs has become more pressing, given that public and private sector employees collectively, for the past four years, failed to cushion workers from inflation.
Latest data shows real wages—earnings adjusted for inflation, fell 4.1 percent last year, continuing the trend that started in 2020.
KNBS data showed extraterritorial organisations and bodies such as the UN were last year paying workers an average of Sh339,274 per month, making them the highest payers despite seeing one of the slowest jumps (1.6 percent) pay rise during the period under review.
The data also puts jobs in the financial sector, administration, information technology, transport and storage electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning and human health as among those where workers take home at least Sh100,000 a month —an earning that was by end of 2022 enjoyed by just under 372,000 workers or 12.3 percent of those in wage employment.
The Sh339,274 monthly pay in NGOs and multilateral bodies makes it attractive for people seeking jobs in entities such as World Bank offices in Nairobi as well as several UN agencies and offices like the United Nations Environmental Programme, United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) Kenya that are hosted in the capital.
The attractiveness of jobs from such multilateral bodies, which are usually well-funded and attract top talent from different countries, is also contributed by the fact that the second and third-highest-paying jobs in the country fetch at least 40 percent less per month.
Jobs in the public sector’s transport and storage activities and those in private firms in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector were fetching workers an average of Sh202,680 and 193,834 respectively last year, according to KNBS.
Financial and insurance activities in the private sector including banking, insurance and fund management were paying workers an average of Sh190,151, a 4.6 percent rise from the previous year. Workers engaged in the same activities in the public sector were taking home about Sh176,275 a month, making them the fifth highest earners.
The average pay of workers in administrative and support service activities saw a 4.4 jump in average monthly pay to Sh157,456, making it the sixth highest category of jobs.
Public sector workers involved in human health and social work activities including doctors and nurses were earning about Sh153,759 a month, compared with those serving in similar roles in the private sector where the pay averaged Sh101,470 in the same period.
Private sectors professional, scientific and technical activities such as management consultancy, architecture, law and accounting ranked as the eighth highest with a monthly pay averaging Sh139,718, marking a 6.6 percent growth from the previous year.
Other workers earning monthly pay of at least Sh100,000 include those working in corporations controlled by the government including parastatals (Sh116,485) and those in private firms in the ICT sector (Sh107,491).
The pay in the public sector’s transport and storage activities rose 7.7 percent —the fastest rise— followed by private sector’s manufacturing, where average pay rose 7.5 percent.
Average monthly pay for activities in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles rose 6.9 percent to rank third to those in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation where monthly earning increased 6.7 percent.
Other activities where monthly pay rose by at least six percent last year include mining and quarrying (6.1 percent), professional, scientific and technical activities, human health and social work services and accommodation and food services (6.6 percent) as well as ICT (six percent).
