Kenya created approximately 822,000 new jobs in 2025, up from 782,000 in 2024, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has said, although the dominance of informal employment remains a major challenge to efforts aimed at creating more productive and sustainable opportunities.
Mbadi said 87.2% of the jobs created during 2025 were in the informal sector, underlining the continuing importance of informal businesses in absorbing Kenya's growing labour force.
However, he said the focus should increasingly shift beyond the number of jobs created towards improving their quality, productivity and long-term sustainability.
The Treasury CS made the remarks during a high-level dialogue on Delivering Results for More and Better Jobs in a Changing Development Landscape in Nairobi on Monday.
Mbadi reaffirmed the government's commitment to creating employment opportunities while ensuring that public resources are used efficiently and deliver measurable benefits to Kenyans.
The figures highlight one of Kenya's longstanding economic challenges: creating sufficient employment opportunities for a rapidly expanding working-age population while reducing dependence on informal work.
The informal sector remains a major source of employment for millions of Kenyans and provides an important entry point into economic activity, particularly for young people and small entrepreneurs.
However, informal employment can also be associated with unstable incomes, limited social protection, low productivity and restricted access to formal financing and business opportunities.
The CS noted that the government was therefore focusing on programmes intended to equip young people with skills while creating pathways into employment both within Kenya and abroad.
Over the medium term, the government is targeting the placement of 570,000 job seekers in local and international opportunities.
It also plans to certify 310,000 workers and provide technical training to 90,000 young people.
The measures form part of a wider strategy aimed at addressing the mismatch between the skills available in the labour market and those required by employers and emerging industries.
The government is also using the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement, or NYOTA, Project to expand opportunities for young people.
According to the Treasury, nearly 200,000 young people have already been reached through the programme across all 47 counties.
The government's focus on youth employment comes as Kenya continues to face pressure to expand economic opportunities for young people entering the labour market each year.
Many young Kenyans have increasingly turned to informal businesses, self-employment and short-term work because formal employment opportunities have not grown at the same pace as the number of people seeking jobs.
Mbadi said supporting businesses would be another central pillar of the government's employment strategy.
Through initiatives including the Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation (KJET) Project and AGRIConnect, the government is working with development partners and other stakeholders to expand access to finance, strengthen markets and modernise value chains.
The objective is to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises formalise and expand, allowing them to create more sustainable employment opportunities.
MSMEs play a major role in Kenya's economy and provide livelihoods for a significant proportion of the workforce. Strengthening access to capital and markets could therefore help businesses move beyond survival and informal operations into larger and more productive enterprises.
Mbadi also linked employment creation to the government's broader fiscal policy.
He said fiscal consolidation should not be viewed simply as reducing government expenditure, but as improving the value obtained from public spending.
The Treasury is strengthening the relationship between planning, budgeting and real-time data to improve how government resources are allocated and to ensure programmes produce tangible results.
The approach is intended to shift attention towards outcomes, including the number and quality of jobs created, rather than focusing solely on the amount of money spent.
The CS maintained that stronger partnerships between government, development partners and the private sector would also be essential in mobilising investment and expanding employment opportunities.
The Nairobi dialogue brought together senior government officials, development partners, private-sector representatives and international experts to discuss how development programmes can deliver better results in a changing economic environment.
Among those who addressed the meeting were World Bank Group Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa Ndiame Diop, Princeton University Professor Eldar Shafir, Principal Secretary for National Government Coordination Ahmed Abdisalan Ibrahim and Kenya Private Sector Alliance Chief Executive Carole Kariuki.
Others included World Bank Group Outcomes Department Director Lisandro Martin, African Development Bank Development Impact and Results Department Director Armand Nzeyimana and World Bank Group Division Director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda Qimiao Fan.
Mbadi said Kenya's approach would require coordinated investment in skills, business development, fiscal efficiency and partnerships to ensure that economic growth produces more opportunities while improving the quality and sustainability of employment.