The findings of an Economic Survey 2022 showing average earnings in the counties reveals that the average monthly pay for county workers last year surpassed that offered to private sector employees, aided by higher annual salary increments in the devolved units.
The counties increased average pay by 7.61 percent to Sh72, 301 from Sh67,191 the year before, beating private firms whose earnings rose 2.24 percent to Sh69,103.
Teachers, national government and parastatals employees are on the list of those whose real wages, adjusted for inflation, were in the negative last year following resistance to increase salaries.
Teachers’ average pay rose 1.84 percent while that of parastatal workers and national government employees increased 0.88 percent and 0.49 percent respectively.
Kenya froze salary increments for all civil servants for two years, starting July last year following a deal agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to keep pay unchanged until 2025.
The pay freeze is expected to help rein in public sector salaries to free up cash for projects such as building roads that ultimately create jobs.
Private sector employers are warning it will take years for pay raises to return to pre-pandemic levels, with firms fretful of business uncertainties despite the economic rebound following the easing of measures aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19.
They say real wages, adjusted for inflation, will take longer to recover from the pandemic-induced economic contraction in 2020.
This means that disposable incomes will fall in 2022 as rising inflation and tax increases hit families, posing a headache to the State in an election year.