Only three percent of Kenyans earn more than sh.50,000 per month.
A Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA) research further reveals that only 10 percent of Kenyans earn sh.20,000 to sh.50,000 a month while 38 percent earn nothing.
“Even those in the two highest monthly income groupings combined (Shs. 20-50,000/- and above Shs. 50,000/-) are fewer than those earning nothing (13% vs. 38%). The vast majority of Kenyans thus survive on extremely modest incomes,” read the research findings.
Most of earning Kenyans 13 percent earn between sh.10,001 and sh.20,000 per month while 12 percent earn sh.5,001 and sh.10,000.
Meanwhile, 39 percent of Kenyans are unemployed with 31 percent having never been employed and eight percent having worked previously and are currently jobless.
“Most of those working are self-employed (29%), with only about one-in-ten employed full-time (11%),” read the report.
Only one percent of those retired have pensions while another one percent do not have pensions.
Savings and spending
In terms of savings, 40 percent of employed Kenyans said they save while seven percent say they do so sometimes.
Most of those who save, at 50 percent, earn sh.50,000 and above while the least, at 28 percent, earn less than sh.5,000.
“While there is a clear correlation between monthly income and the capacity to save at the end of each month, it is perhaps not as great as might be expected, as even just over one-quarter of those in the lowest income category report being able to do this (28%), even though most twice as many in the highest income category (50%) say they do so,” reads the TIFA report.
Most of the savings are spent on investments.
“Among the minority who are usually able to save anything, such funds are put to a wide variety of uses, the three most common being general saving/investment accounts to earn interest (19%), unexpected/emergency needs (16%), and education costs (which are periodic rather than monthly),” read the TIFA report.
One out of ten Kenyans use their savings to buy houses while seven percent share their savings with their families. Only four percent use their savings for their personal needs.
