NAIROBI, Kenya Sep 4 – Kenya’s public workforce has crossed the 1 million mark and reached 1.07 million employees, piling pressure on the government’s wage bill as the cost of running the public service continues to rise.
New figures contained in the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Fourth Quarter Wage Bill Bulletin for the 2025/2026 financial year show that public sector employment grew by 4.6 per cent in 2025, from 1.023 million workers in 2024 to 1.07 million.
The growth was driven largely by increased hiring in key sectors, with education, public administration and defence accounting for the biggest share of public employment.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) remains the country’s biggest public-sector employer.
Its workforce jumped from 410,700 employees in 2024 to 436,300 in 2025, representing a 6.2 per cent increase.
Ministries and other extra-budgetary institutions followed with 243,500 workers, while county governments employed 239,000 people.
The growing workforce comes as Kenya’s public wage bill continues to expand.
SRC estimates that the wage bill will rise to Sh1.287 trillion in the 2025/2026 financial year, up from Sh1.247 trillion in 2024/2025.
The wage bill has risen sharply from Sh988 billion in 2020/2021.
SRC says the increase has largely been driven by expansion in teaching, health and security employment, as well as periodic salary adjustments.
Despite the rise in the wage bill, its share of ordinary government revenue has fallen from 54.77 per cent in 2020/2021 to a projected 40.68 per cent in 2025/2026.
But the figure remains above the 35 per cent threshold set under Kenya’s public finance management framework.
The figures come against a backdrop of rising prices.
SRC says the average month-on-month inflation rate during the fourth quarter of 2025/2026 stood at 6.23 per cent, significantly higher than the 3.9 per cent recorded during the same period a year earlier.
The rate was also above the Central Bank of Kenya’s 5 per cent target.
SRC warns that persistent inflation erodes the purchasing power of salaries and can increase pressure from public employees for higher pay.
