Why Kenya's informal economy is carrying Ruto's jobs record

Four years into President William Ruto's administration, Kenya's employment numbers tell a story that is more complicated than the headline figure of millions of jobs created.

Between 2022 and 2025, the economy added about 3.27 million jobs, according to employment data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). But around 2.84 million of those jobs, roughly 87 per cent, were created in the informal sector.

That means the country's small traders, boda boda riders, casual workers, food vendors, artisans and other hustlers have been doing much of the heavy lifting when it comes to absorbing Kenyans into employment.

The pattern has remained remarkably consistent throughout Ruto's first four years in office.

In 2022, Kenya added 816,600 jobs, with 702,900 coming from the informal sector. In 2023, informal employment accounted for 720,900 of the 848,200 jobs created.

The trend continued in 2024, when 703,700 of the 782,300 new jobs were informal.

In 2025, the economy created another 822,100 jobs. Of these, 716,800 were in the informal sector, representing 87.2 per cent of the total.

By comparison, only about 420,400 of the 3.27 million jobs created over the four-year period were in the modern or formal sector.

Behind these figures are millions of Kenyans earning a living outside traditional payroll employment.

They include the trader opening a kiosk every morning, the boda boda rider ferrying passengers across town, the food vendor selling lunch to workers, the carpenter taking casual contracts and the young person earning through online work.

The informal sector has long played a major role in Kenya's economy, particularly by providing opportunities for people who may struggle to find formal employment.

Its ability to absorb workers quickly has once again been evident during Ruto's tenure.

The latest figures show total recorded employment, excluding small-scale agriculture, rising from 20.8 million people in 2024 to 21.6 million in 2025. Informal employment alone reached 18.1 million.

The numbers raise a bigger question about the quality and stability of employment being created.

Getting more Kenyans into income-generating activity is important, but informal work can also mean unpredictable earnings, limited social protection and little job security.

This distinction matters because a person running a small business or working casually may technically be employed while still struggling to meet basic household needs.

President Ruto appeared to acknowledge this challenge during the Beyond Vision 2030 national conversation on August 12.

“We have too many people who still sleep hungry. We have too many people who are jobless. We have too many people who don't have income,” he said.

The President also identified micro, small and medium enterprises as a major opportunity for creating employment and incomes, calling for better access to credit, markets and business opportunities.

The figures therefore present a mixed picture for Ruto's jobs record.

More Kenyans are working, but the informal economy is carrying most of that growth.

The next challenge may not simply be creating more jobs, but helping the millions already working informally build businesses and careers that can provide more reliable incomes, protection and long-term opportunities.