Market Update: We break down the business implications, market impact, and expert insights related to Market Update: Survey: More working-age adults depend on retirees amid economic pressure – Full Analysis.
The portion of pensioners supporting young adults aged 18 and above has expanded significantly over the past year, a new survey by the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) shows, underlining the country’s worsening youth unemployment crisis.
An overwhelming 93 percent of pensioners, roughly 9 in 10, say they are supporting dependents, up from 83.2 percent recorded in February 2025.
The increase signals mounting economic pressure on households where retirement income, once designed to guarantee dignity and stability in old age, is increasingly being stretched to sustain entire families.
According to the survey, 45 percent of pensioners reported that youth aged 25 years and above were heavily dependent on them, whether as children, grandchildren, or other relatives.
Of this group, 39 percent were their adult children, one percent grandchildren, and five percent other dependents.
The data shows that individuals above 60 years and retired were spending their meager pension on their children and grandchildren, often graduates expected to be in employment.
“Some 39 percent of respondents had children above 25 years still depending on them,” the RBA said.
Young adults aged between 18 and 24 years form the single largest cluster of dependents.
Within this category, 39 percent are pensioners’ children, six percent grandchildren, and three percent other dependents.
Hundreds of job seekers queue awaiting clearance and interviews at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on October 25, 2024.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The data paints a picture of prolonged economic vulnerability among young people, many of whom remain financially tethered to parents and grandparents well into adulthood.
The trend reflects deeper structural weaknesses in the labour market, including limited job creation, skills mismatches, and slow absorption of graduates into formal employment.
It also exposes the strain on retirees whose fixed incomes are now bearing the weight of high living costs, job scarcity, and intergenerational obligations.
Data from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) places Kenya’s unemployment rate at about 5.4 percent in 2024, with projections for 2026 ranging between 5.4 and 5.6 percent, broadly consistent with trends observed in late 2024 and 2025.
While the headline rate appears moderate, it masks the disproportionate burden carried by young people, many of whom remain unemployed, underemployed, or trapped in informal and low-paying work.
The resulting erosion of workers’ purchasing power and cash flow crises for companies as a result of rising outstanding bills are seen as a strain on companies’ ability to maintain the same number of jobs.
“Be business-oriented; employment is not permanent; invest in your children’s education and encourage them to become financially independent, and they should not be afraid of starting a business,” added RBA.
Kenya’s job market has been erratic over the years. According to the 2025 Economic Survey, the country’s overall unemployment rate remained relatively stable, with official statistics showing it at about 5.4 percent in 2024.
This represented a slight decline from the 5.6 percent reported in 2023.
Additionally, there was a slowdown in the number of new jobs created in the informal sector from 720,900 in 2023 to 703, 700 jobs in 2024.
Contracts and pay
A recent survey by Stanbic Bank Kenya showed that Kenya’s labour markets showed resilience in 2025 as recovering consumer demand lifted private sector activity, helping firms sustain jobs and employ additional workers, but on temporary contracts.
Increased employment on temporary and informal contracts in corporate Kenya, however, offered workers little job security and limited prospects for higher pay as wage growth remained largely muted for most of the year.
Firms added staff for much of the year in response to recovering sales and improving business confidence, according to the monthly Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which interviews about 400 corporate managers.