More than 6 out of every 10 Kenyans who returned home in 2025 attributed their homecoming to job losses or the expiry of employment contracts, highlighting the fragility of overseas labour markets that have become a key source of household incomes and foreign exchange earnings.
New findings from the 2025 Kenya Remittances Household Survey show that 50,465 emigrants returned to the country during the year after previously living and working abroad. Of these, 29,892 individuals, representing 59.2 per cent of all returnees, cited expiry of employment contracts or job termination as the primary reason for coming back home.
Labour and Social Protection CS Alfred Mutua with job-seekers at KICC during a recruitment drive for jobs in Qatar.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The findings offer fresh insights into the experiences of migrant workers at a time when Kenya is aggressively expanding labour export programmes as part of efforts to tackle unemployment. Successive administrations have increasingly promoted overseas employment opportunities, particularly in the Gulf region, Europe and North America, as a source of jobs for young Kenyans. President William Ruto’s administration, in particular, has placed labour migration at the centre of its employment strategy, targeting hundreds of thousands of overseas job placements across different sectors.
The large share of workers returning after contracts ended, however, suggests that many migrants continue to occupy positions tied to fixed-term arrangements rather than long-term residency pathways. Domestic work, hospitality, security services, construction and caregiving remain among the leading occupations for Kenyan migrants, especially in Gulf countries. Such jobs are typically linked to contract cycles that require workers to either secure renewals or return home once employment terms expire.
The survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), in collaboration with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSD Kenya), further shows that entrepreneurship was the second-largest identifiable reason for return migration after employment-related exits. A total of 3,827 returnees, equivalent to 7.6 per cent of the total, said they came back specifically to start businesses in Kenya, while another 2,485 returnees, representing 4.9 per cent, cited the search for farming land as the reason for returning.
Reforms in Saudi Arabia labour market triggered a more than 50 per cent drop in remittances during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
A further 1,104 people returned in search of paid employment within Kenya, highlighting the difficulties some migrants face in securing fresh opportunities abroad after contracts end. The survey also recorded smaller numbers returning because of asylum-related circumstances, job transfers, health needs, education and family considerations. An additional 12,425 returnees were classified under other unspecified reasons, making up nearly a quarter of all those who relocated back to Kenya.
The findings emerge against a backdrop of growing concerns over shifting labour market dynamics in some of Kenya’s key migration destinations. Recent policy changes in Saudi Arabia, one of Kenya’s largest overseas labour markets, have already disrupted parts of the labour migration ecosystem.
CBK data earlier this year showed remittance inflows from Saudi Arabia fell sharply after the Gulf nation introduced a skills-based foreign worker permit system. The reforms reclassified foreign workers into highly skilled, skilled and basic categories, affecting sectors where many Kenyans are employed. The change triggered a more than 50 per cent drop in remittances from Saudi Arabia during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier.
