50% of Kenya’s Workforce Earn Below Sh 30,000, Report Shows

A staggering 1,279,982 (46.3%) of Kenya’s 2,765,159 salaried workers earn less than Ksh 30,000 per month.

In a news report by Business Daily on Sunday evening citing a Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data which is set to be released next week, the number of salaried workers taking home below Sh30,000 grew by 154,945 or 14 percent according to data captured in the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) database as at end of December 2018.

The said data will show that government jobs continue to pay higher with the majority of the workers (69%) earning less than $300 work in the private sector.

Out of the 394,975 additional workers that have joined formal employment in the last four years, 183,061 of have been given salaries of below Sh30,000 despite the rising cost of living.

However, this proportion of the said workers may be higher as the pay captured by KNBS is before statutory deductions such as income tax, National Social Security Fund and National Hospital Insurance Fund.

In 2018, KNBS reported that in Nairobi, each adult spent Ksh 4,239 on food, Sh8,158 on non-food items such as clothing, education, health, transport and rent.