Kenya is still struggling to rein in its public wage bill as county governments persistently overshoot salary spending limits, while the national government drifts in the same direction, according to a report by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
- •In the final quarter of 2025, county governments spent an estimated 40.12% of their revenue on wages, well above the 35% ceiling set under the public finance law.
- •Only six of the 47 counties; Nyandarua, Nakuru, Migori, Kilifi, Siaya, and Tana River remained within the threshold.
- •Parastatal bodies, with just over 100,000 employees, generate a wage bill of KSh 239 billion, higher than that of county governments, which employ more than twice as many people but spend Ksh 215 billion.
At the national level, the picture is more controlled but less reassuring than it appears. The central government’s wage bill stood at 28.56% of ordinary revenue, comfortably below the legal cap but up from 27% a year earlier. In absolute terms, spending on personnel rose to KSh 166.98 billion in the second quarter, compared with KSh 153.71 billion over the same period the previous year.
Across the public sector, employment continues to expand as the government workforce reached 1.023 million employees in 2024. The largest share sits within the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), which employs over 410,000 workers and accounts for the single biggest slice of the wage bill. Ministries and other state institutions follow with 236,700 workers while county governments themselves employ 226,500 workers.
Education accounts for nearly 60% of total wage spending, governance, law and order consume another 26%, while sectors such as health and infrastructure make up smaller but still essential portions.
At the same time, the relationship between headcount and costs are not linear. Pay levels, not just staffing numbers, can be a significant driver of overall costs.
During the quarter, public institutions submitted pay-related requests worth about KSh 4.03 billion, covering allowances, collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), and performance incentives. The SRC approved KSh 2.31 billion, roughly 57% of the total.
Underlying these dynamics is a macroeconomic pressure that is beginning to reassert itself. As inflation averaged 4.5% during the quarter, up from 2.8% a year earlier, rising prices eroded purchasing power and tended to trigger fresh demands for salary adjustments. The wage bill accounted for about 40.6% of ordinary revenue in 2025, down from levels above 50% earlier in the decade.
However, the pace of improvement has slowed, with the latest data suggesting that slight restraint at the national level is being undermined by unmitigated indiscipline in the counties.
Meanwhile, authorities are increasingly framing wage sustainability not just in terms of limits, but in terms of output; calibrating how much economic and social value the public workforce generates relative to its cost. Plans are underway to convene a national productivity conference, as it becomes clear that controlling headcount and pay alone will not resolve the problem.
