Companies and public entities created additional 206,617 jobs for workers earning monthly salaries of between Sh50,000 and Sh100,000 over the five years to 2024, marking the pay band with the most new employees.
Employees within the salary band constituted 43.8 percent of all the 471,191 formal jobs created during the five-year period, new data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) show.
This has seen the number of workers earning from Sh50,000 to Sh99,999 monthly rise from 1.25 million to 1.46 million between 2020 and last year, representing a 16.5 percent growth in the most populated wage category.
At least 45.5 percent of 3.2 million Kenyans in the formal workforce earn within the salary band, followed by the group earning between Sh30,000 to Sh49,999, who constitute 32.2 percent.
The KNBS statistics show that private companies contributed 69.1 percent of the new earners within the group earning from Sh50,000 to Sh99,999, as the government took the rest.
“Earnings or wages cover all cash payments, including: basic salary, cost of living allowances, profit bonus, together with the value of rations and free board, and an estimate of the employer’s contribution towards housing,” the KNBS explained.
The majority of the workers earning within the most populous salary band are in education (291,224 workers), public administration and defence (201,917), manufacturing (183,156), agriculture (105,875) and trade (101,968).
They include professionals such as teachers, military personnel, bank tellers and administrative assistants.
During the five years, the proportion of workers earning less than Sh30,000 grew the largest percentage, underlining the struggle by companies to create high-paying jobs amid rising taxes and the lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Workers earning monthly salaries of up to Sh29,999 increased by 33.4 percent to hit 319,275 to see the number of employees in this category constitute 9.9 percent of Kenya’s formal workforce. This was up from 8.7 percent in 2020, the KNBS Statistical Abstract shows.
The data excluded persons working in the informal sector.
“Wage employment figures include casual employees, part-time workers, directors and partners serving on a regular basic salary contract.
“Self-employed persons and family workers who do not receive regular wages or salaries are excluded,” KNBS said.
The five-year period also saw public and private firms generate 86,697 more jobs for workers earning above Sh100,000. Two-thirds of these new jobs were created in the private sector, the report shows.
These workers had the second-sharpest rise in numbers at a rate of 27.9 percent and their proportion to the formal workforce also grew from 11.3 to 12.4 percent, KNBS said.
In the Economic Survey released earlier this year, KNBS noted that the majority of Kenyans employed formally work in the manufacturing, agriculture and trade sectors, collectively employing 42.6 percent in the private sector.
“The leading industries in the private sector in 2024 providing the highest employment numbers were manufacturing; agriculture forestry and fishing; and wholesale and retail trade, accounting for 15.9, 14.1, and 12.6 percent of the total private sector employment, respectively,” the agency said.
In the public sector, the majority of the workers are teachers who hit 410,700 last year, followed by those working in ministries (236,700), and county government workers (226,500).
Formal employment in Kenya, however, accounts for just 15 percent of the total workforce of 20.8 million by last year, with the informal sector dominating with a workforce estimated at 17.4 million.
Last year, while the economy created 782,300 new jobs, the formal sector created just 78,600, underlining the dominance of Kenya’s informal sector in employment.
“The total new jobs generated in the economy were 782,300 in 2024, of which 78,600 jobs were created in the modern sector reflecting a growth of 2.4 percent. There was a slowdown in the number of new jobs created in the informal sector from 720,900 in 2023 to 703,700 jobs in 2024,” the 2025 Economic Survey showed.
KNBS has not been able to provide statistics on wage earnings in Kenya’s informal sector, focusing only within the formal sector where companies submit data.
The group of Kenyans formally employed and earning below Sh10,000 over the five years, KNBS observed, rose by 15.3 percent to hit 12,331.
Workers earning between Sh10,000 and Sh15,000 have, however, reduced marginally over the five years, closing at 40,953 last year.
Those earning between Sh15,000 and Sh20,000, on the other hand, have doubled from 25,552 in 2020 to 57,580 last year, the Statistical Abstract shows.
