Kenya recorded approximately 3.27 million additional jobs between 2022 and 2025, but the overwhelming majority came from the informal economy. About 2.84 million of the additional jobs, equivalent to roughly 87% of the total, were informal, highlighting the continued dominance of small businesses, self-employment and other non-formal work in the country’s labour market.
The latest 2026 employment data shows that total recorded employment, excluding small-scale agriculture and pastoral activities, increased to approximately 21.6 million in 2025, while informal-sector employment climbed to about 18.1 million. (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics) The figures demonstrate continued job growth but also reinforce concerns around employment quality, productivity, income security and the economy’s capacity to generate more formal positions.
Key Overview
- Kenya recorded approximately 3.27 million additional jobs between 2022 and 2025.
- Around 2.84 million, or roughly 87%, of those jobs came from the informal sector.
- The economy added 822,100 jobs in 2025, compared with 782,300 in 2024.
- Informal employment increased by 716,800 jobs in 2025, reaching about 18.1 million workers.
- Total recorded employment rose from approximately 20.8 million in 2024 to 21.6 million in 2025.
- The figures measure changes in national employment and should not be interpreted as jobs directly created by a particular government programme.
Informal Sector Drives Four Years of Employment Growth
Kenya has consistently added hundreds of thousands of jobs annually, but the employment breakdown between 2022 and 2025 shows that informal work has accounted for most of the expansion. (Sacco Review)
In 2022, the economy recorded 816,600 additional jobs, including 702,900 in the informal sector. A further 848,200 jobs were added in 2023, with 720,900 coming from informal activities.
Employment growth moderated slightly in 2024, when the economy generated 782,300 additional jobs. Of these, 703,700 were informal, meaning about 90% of the year’s employment increase came from that part of the economy. The 2025 labour-market figures also showed that total recorded employment had reached approximately 20.8 million by the end of that year’s reporting period. (The Eastleigh Voice)
The pace picked up again in 2025, with 822,100 new jobs recorded. Informal employment accounted for 716,800 of those positions, equivalent to 87.2% of the total increase, taking the number of people working in the informal sector to approximately 18.1 million.
Across the full four-year period, the economy therefore recorded 3.269 million additional jobs, of which about 2.844 million were informal.
Formal Employment Remains a Smaller Part of Growth
The figures underline the persistent difficulty Kenya faces in generating formal wage employment at the same pace as its growing labour force.
In 2025, modern-sector wage employment increased by 3.1% to approximately 3.3 million workers, while the broader informal sector employed more than five times that number. (Tuko.co.ke – Kenya news.)
This gap matters because informal employment covers a wide range of economic activity, from profitable small businesses and skilled trades to low-income and irregular work. Consequently, an increase in employment numbers does not necessarily provide a complete picture of improvements in household income, job security or worker productivity.
The employment challenge is therefore increasingly about quality as well as quantity. Creating sustainable formal businesses, improving productivity among micro and small enterprises and enabling informal businesses to scale could determine whether employment growth translates into stronger household incomes.
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2022 Figures Need Careful Interpretation
The cumulative 2022–2025 employment figures should also not be treated as a direct measure of jobs created by President William Ruto’s administration.
The 816,600 jobs recorded in 2022 cover the entire calendar year, while President Ruto assumed office in September 2022. Contemporary employment reporting for that year attributed the year’s employment performance largely to economic activity during the final year of the previous administration. (The Standard)
More broadly, national employment statistics track changes across the entire economy rather than counting only jobs produced by government projects. Jobs can arise from private businesses, household enterprises, self-employment, public-sector recruitment and wider economic activity.
Government statements about employment generated through individual programmes may therefore produce different totals because they can include temporary work, indirect employment and broader economic opportunities that are measured differently from national employment statistics.
Kenya’s Challenge Shifts Toward Job Quality
Kenya’s labour market is still expanding. Recorded employment increased from roughly 20.8 million people in 2024 to 21.6 million in 2025, while the economy returned to adding more than 800,000 positions during the year.
However, the composition of that growth remains the central issue. With nearly nine out of every ten additional jobs over the four-year period coming from the informal economy, Kenya’s employment story is being driven much more by informal enterprise than by expansion in conventional salaried jobs.
That makes improvements in business productivity, access to finance, worker skills and enterprise growth increasingly important. Stronger pathways for informal businesses to expand and formalise could help convert continued employment growth into better earnings, greater income security and more sustainable jobs.
Sources: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics / Sacco Review / The Star / Business Daily Africa / TUKO
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