Workers in Kenya’s education sector accounted for the largest share of formal employees earning more than Sh100,000 a month in 2017, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data.
The number of education workers in that bracket rose by 805 to 17,001 from the previous year. That represented 22.13 percent of the 76,804 formal employees who earned above Sh100,000 monthly.
Across the formal labour market, only 2.89 percent of the 2,656,553 workers were paid in that category.
KNBS said education employees also formed about a third of the 2,511 workers who joined the Sh100,000-plus group in 2017. The trend reflects the bargaining strength of lecturers, tutors and teachers, many of whom negotiate pay through collective agreements.
Teachers, through their union, signed a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Teachers Service Commission on October 20, 2016. The deal provided for a cumulative Sh54 billion pay rise to be phased in over four years from July 2017.
In the Statistical Abstract 2018, KNBS said earnings in the category include basic salary, cost of living allowances, profit bonus, the value of rations and free board, and an estimate of the employer’s housing contribution.
The bureau also said the figures are lower than total factor income because they exclude pensions, employer contributions to the National Social Security Fund or private provident funds, and personal emoluments for the armed forces. Informal sector earnings, rural small-scale agriculture and pastoralist activities were also excluded.
KNBS said the data is collected at the end of each financial year ending June, mainly through enumeration of employees and self-employed people.
Outside education, the number of workers in financial services earning more than Sh100,000 fell by 147 to 11,459 in 2017. Agriculture also recorded a drop, with top earners declining by 40 to 2,892.
KNBS said agricultural workers in that pay band had nearly halved from 5,433 in 2015, a shift linked to rising mechanisation and digitalisation in farm operations.
By contrast, the wholesale and retail trade, including repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, added 244 workers in the bracket to reach 10,504. Construction rose by 142 to 4,840, while manufacturing increased by 51 to 6,034.
