Kenya's labour market continues to be dominated by the informal sector, even as the country records steady gains in formal employment.
A latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) showed that while formal employment is expanding, it remains a small fraction of the overall workforce.
According to the 2026 Economic Survey, informal employment accounts for 83.8 percent, translating to approximately 18.1 million people, compared to 16.2 percent or 3.5 million workers in the formal sector.
Despite this disparity, formal sector employment grew by 4.0 percent in 2025.
A breakdown of employment trends shows that the private sector remains the largest employer, rising from 1,983,000 workers in 2021 to 2,245,000 in 2025, representing a 2.5 percent growth over the past year.
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Meanwhile, the public sector expanded from 923,000 employees in 2021 to 1,070,000 in 2025, reflecting a stronger 4.6 percent growth rate.
In terms of industry distribution within the private sector in 2025, manufacturing leads with 366,600 workers, followed by agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 311,800.
The wholesale and retail trade, including vehicle repair, employs 281,000, while education accounts for 251,100 jobs.
The construction sector closes the top five with 228,200 workers.
On the cost-of-living front, inflation has shown signs of easing in recent years.
The annual inflation rate dropped from 7.7 percent in both 2022 and 2023 to 4.5 percent in 2024, and further down to 4.1 percent in 2025.
Food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation in 2025 presents a mixed picture across different categories.
Prices of fish and other seafood surged by 16.0 percent, while vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses rose by 13.4 percent, reflecting significant increases in essential food items.
On the other hand, oils and fats recorded a 4.1 percent rise, while sugar, desserts, and confectionery increased by 3.2 percent, and cereals and cereal products went up by 2.4 percent.
In contrast, some relief was observed in select categories, with milk, other dairy products, and eggs recording a slight decline of 0.5 percent, offering a modest cushion for consumers.
Elsewhere, this comes weeks after Nairobi-based outsourcing firm Sama announced a redundancy process that will affect more than 1,000 workers.
In a statement on Thursday, April 16, the company said it recently received a communication from Meta, notifying it of the termination of their contract.
Following the notice, Sama said it held discussions with the client in an effort to protect jobs at the Nairobi office and across the wider business, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
As a result, the company issued a formal notice of intended redundancy to employees at its Nairobi office on April 16.
The company said the exercise will affect 1,108 employees, many of whom were assigned to the terminated workstream.
"As is standard in our industry, client programs evolve, and we work closely with our partners to manage these transitions responsibly. Our immediate priority is supporting our employees through this change and ensuring continuity across our broader operations," Sama Country Lead and Vice President for Global Delivery, Annepeace Alwala, said.
