Kenyan households are spending more on domestic staff than ever before, with total payments reaching Sh90.2 billion in 2024, almost double the Sh51.3 billion reported in 2015.
This sharp rise highlights a growing reliance on paid home support across the country over the last ten years.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the figure represents wages and allowances paid directly by families to domestic workers and other household staff. KNBS notes that these payments account for 0.6 percent of Kenya’s economy.
The workforce includes nannies, cooks, cleaners, personal care assistants, and other employees hired for day-to-day household tasks. Elderly care is a rapidly expanding segment, as families increasingly rely on caregivers to help ageing members with daily routines, health supervision, and companionship.
Families also engage temporary and casual workers for short-term tasks such as errands, home repairs, and event assistance.
Most household-paid work continues to operate informally, with cash payments being common and few formal contracts or statutory benefits in place. KNBS data shows consistent growth in household-paid labour each year between 2015 and 2024, reflecting steady expansion in this segment.
The agency observes that domestic employment is now a measurable contributor to economic activity, capturing demand for services outside conventional businesses or formal employment.
One driver of this growth is the rising participation of women in the formal workforce, which has increased the need for paid domestic help. Additionally, online platforms and digital marketplaces have simplified the process of connecting families with available workers for short-term or ongoing tasks.
Despite the sector’s expansion, informal arrangements leave workers without access to social protection, statutory benefits, or health coverage. This also creates gaps in tax reporting, as household wages rarely appear in official records, limiting government oversight of the sector’s economic role.
The KNBS report further highlights the enormous value of unpaid domestic labour in Kenya, estimated at Sh2.423 trillion annually. Women contribute Sh1.9 trillion of this work, while men account for Sh353.9 billion. On average, each Kenyan woman performs unpaid domestic work worth Sh118,845 annually, compared to Sh22,676 for each man.
The data underscores a persistent gender imbalance, with women shouldering most household responsibilities. Food preparation and meal management alone account for Sh1.073 trillion of unpaid work by women, involving 14.7 billion hours, compared to Sh157 billion contributed by men over 2.1 billion hours.
These figures reveal the unequal distribution of care and domestic duties within Kenyan households.
