Expats, NGO workers retain top earners’ spot

Employees of multilateral bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) remain the highest-paid in the formal sector, with those in financial services coming second, official data shows.

The Economic Survey 2020 released Tuesday shows the average monthly pay for those employed at organisations such as the World Bank, the United Nations and the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) stood at Sh316,754 last year.

This was up 7.9 per cent compared to Sh293,560 in 2018. In 2014, average monthly earnings were at Sh223,662.

The sector is the only one with average monthly earnings above Sh200,000, which it has retained over the past six years.

Private financial and insurance firms came second, having paid workers Sh162,310 a month on average in the same period. This translates to a 5.9 per cent jump from Sh130,429 in 2018.

Top executives at banks, the most profitable in the financial services industry, enjoy the highest monthly pay. Those with large salaries include asset managers, analysts and investment advisers.

However, average earnings in the financial services are below those of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which are funded with contributions from governments, private companies and wealthy individuals.

The institutions employ highly qualified personnel from diverse backgrounds who are paid more especially when sent to work outside their home countries.

Kenya hosts UN agencies such as United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

Workers in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply retained their spot as the third highest earners. They draw an average of Sh158,318, in contrast with Sh116,633 five years ago.

Other top earners are in public administration and defence; compulsory social security (Sh138,238), transportation and storage (Sh125,051), professional, scientific and technical activities (Sh112,445) and ICT (Sh87,631).

Workers in household activities draw the least monthly income (Sh22,647) on average.

Other low earners are in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (Sh23,520), real estate (Sh25,865), agriculture, forestry and fishing (Sh30,787) and accommodation and food service (Sh37,839).