The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has revealed a growing disparity in public sector pay, with parastatal bodies recording a higher wage bill than county governments despite having less than half their workforce.
The SRC made the observation in its Fourth Quarter Wage Bill Bulletin covering April to June 2026 for the 2025/2026 financial year, citing data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Economic Survey 2026.
“Although parastatal bodies have a low number of employees, they incur a higher wage bill than county governments, which employ more than twice as many staff,” read part of the report.
Public sector wage employment increased by 4.6 percent in 2025, up from 3.1 percent in 2024.
SRC Finds Parastatals Spend More on Wages Than Counties
The growth was driven largely by public administration and defence and compulsory social security, which recorded a 6.6 percent increase, followed by human health and social work activities at 5.5 percent.
Data in the Economic Survey showed that the number of public service employees rose from 1.02 million in 2024 to 1.07 million in 2025.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) remained the largest public service employer, with its workforce rising from 410,700 employees in 2024 to 436,300 in 2025, representing a 6.2 percent increase.
“TSC remains the largest public service employer, registering the highest growth in employment in 2025, at 6.2 percent, where its employees increased from 410,700 employees in 2024 to 436,300 employees in 2025,” read part of the report.
Ministries and other extra-budgetary institutions followed with 243,500 employees, while county governments had 239,000 employees.
Parastatal bodies, however, employed just 101,400 workers in 2025, yet their wage bill was higher than that of county governments, which employed more than twice as many workers.
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SRC said the disparity demonstrates that employee numbers alone do not determine the size of the public wage bill, with the level of remuneration per employee also playing a significant role.
The teaching service continued to account for both the highest number of employees and the largest wage bill, reflecting its position as a critical component of Kenya’s public service.
Overall, the number of public service employees has continued to rise, crossing the one million mark in 2024 and reaching 1.07 million in 2025.
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National Government Wage Bill Rises to KSh516.9 Billion
The national government’s spending on Personnel Emoluments (PE) remained below the 35 percent threshold set under the Public Finance Management (PFM) framework during the first nine months of both FY 2024/2025 and FY 2025/2026.
However, PE as a proportion of total revenue increased slightly from 27.6 percent in FY 2024/2025 to 28.1 percent in FY 2025/2026.
At the same time, personnel spending as a share of total expenditure declined from 30.5 percent to 27.94 percent during the period.
National government expenditure increased from KSh1.54 trillion in the first nine months of FY 2024/2025 to KSh1.85 trillion in the corresponding period of FY 2025/2026.
Personnel Emoluments rose from KSh469.97 billion to KSh516.89 billion, while development expenditure increased from KSh338.18 billion to KSh507.9 billion. Operations and maintenance spending also rose from KSh732.85 billion to KSh825.04 billion.
Meanwhile, total ordinary revenue rose from KSh1.70 trillion to KSh1.83 trillion, while tax revenue increased from KSh1.58 trillion to KSh1.72 trillion. Non-tax revenue declined from KSh122.31 billion to KSh109.28 billion.
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