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.

📻 Breaking It Down

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 m illion.

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.

📌 What You Need to Know

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.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya