Kenya created 782,300 jobs in 2024, 90 per cent in informal sector — KNBS report
The Teachers Service Commission, which is the largest employer in the public sector, registered the highest growth of 5.2 per cent in 2024.
Kenya created 782,300 new jobs in 2024, with the informal sector accounting for 90 per cent of them, the 2025 Economic Survey released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has revealed.
According to KNBS, new jobs created in the informal sector in 2024 stood at 703,700, down from 720,900 in 2023, while 78,600 were created in the formal sector, reflecting a 2.4 per cent growth from 2023. Additionally, total employment, excluding small-scale agriculture, increased from 20 million in 2023 to 20.8 million in 2024.
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"The total number of self-employed and unpaid family workers in the modern sector was estimated to have increased from 172,400 in 2023 to 175,500 thousand in 2024,” the report says.
Overall, the nominal wage bill rose by 7.2 per cent to Sh2,998,800 in 2024, with the private sector accounting for 70.6 per cent of the total nominal wage bill. In the formal sector, nominal average annual earnings per person increased from Sh832,700 in 2023 to Sh881,400 in 2024.
"The annual inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to 4.5 per cent in 2024 from 7.9 per cent in 2023," the report says.
The report also identified manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing and wholesale and retail trade sectors as the leading job contributors, accounting for 15.9, 14.1 and 12.6 per cent of the total private sector employment, respectively.
"Private sector employment in accommodation and food service activities increased by 6.1 per cent to 102.9 thousand employees in 2024. During the review period, other industries that recorded notable growth were: other service activities at 4.8 per cent, education and administrative support service activities each at 3.4 per cent," the report says.
Public sector employment also grew, with wage employment registering a growth of 3.1 per cent in 2024 compared to 5.9 per cent in 2023.
"Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply recorded the highest growth of 6.9 per cent. This was followed by human health and social work activities and education, which registered growths of 5.5 and 3.8 per cent in 2024, respectively," KNBS reported.
Industries with the highest employment levels in the public sector were education, public administration and defence and compulsory social security, which accounted for 45.2 per cent and 34.4 per cent of total employment in the sector, respectively, in 2024.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC), which is the largest employer in the public sector, registered the highest growth of 5.2 per cent in 2024.
Ministries and other extra-budgetary Institutions registered an increase of 1.3 per cent, while employment in county governments increased by 2.3 per cent over the same period.
"Employment in corporations controlled by the government increased by 1.2 per cent while that in Parastatal bodies similarly grew by 1.2 per cent in 2024," said KNBS.
On gender parity, the number of female wage employees increased by 5 per cent to 1,226,900. However, sectors such as mining and quarrying continued to fall short, with women accounting for only 14.2 per cent of the workforce
"The sector with the highest proportion of females to the total wage employees within the sector was the human health and social work activities, with more than half of the total wage employees engaged 2023 and 2024," the report says.
"On the contrary, female employees registered the lowest proportion of female employees to the total wage employees within the mining and quarrying sector at 13.2 and 14.2 per cent in 2023 and 2024, respectively."
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