The 2009 population and housing census covered in brief the labour status as tabulated below. The main variable of interest for inequality discussed in the text is work for pay by level of education. The other variables, notably family business, family agricultural holdings, intern/volunteer, retired/homemaker, fulltime student, incapacitated and  no work are tabulated and presented in the annex table 11.3 up to ward level.

 Table 11: Overall Employment by Education levels in Kakamega County

In Kakamega County, 17% of the residents with no formal education, 15% of those with primary education and 22% of those with secondary level of education or above work for pay. Work for pay for those with a secondary level of education or above is highest in Nairobi at 49%, this is twice the level in Kakamega.

In this report, the Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of consumption expenditure among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini index of '0' represents perfect equality, while an index of '1' implies perfect inequality. Kakamega County’s Gini index is 0.394 compared with Turkana County, which has the least inequality nationally (0.283).

Only 1% of residents in Kakamega County use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 2% use paraffin, 87% use firewood and 9% use charcoal. Firewood is the most common cooking fuel by gender with 86% of male headed households and 89% in female headed households using it.

Navakholo constituency has the highest level of firewood use in Kakamega County at 97%.This is 43 percentage points above the level in Lurambi constituency, which has the lowest share. Navakholo is about 11 percentage points above the county average. Three wards, Khalaba, Bunyala East and Idakho North have the highest level of firewood use in Kakamega County at 98%.This is four times the level in the lowest ward, Shieywe. The three wards are 11 percentage points above the county average.

Lurambi constituency has the highest level of charcoal use in Kakamega County at 32%.This is 16 times the level in Ikolomani constituency, which has the lowest share. Lurambi constituency is four times the county average level of charcoal use. Shieywe ward has the highest level of charcoal use in Kakamega County at 54%.This is 53 percentage points more than the level of Idakho North, which has the lowest share. Shieywe is 45 percentage points above the county average level of charcoal use.

6% of residents in Kakamega County use electricity as their main source of lighting, 28% use lanterns, 64% use tin lamps, and less than 1% use fuel wood. Electricity use is almost equal by gender as 6% of male headed households compared with 5% female headed households use it.

Lurambi constituency has the highest level of electricity use at 22%.This is 21 percentage points above Matungu constituency, which has the lowest level of electricity use. Lurambi is thus 16 percentage points above the county average level of electricity use. Mumias North ward has the highest level of electricity use at 50%.This is 50 percentage points above West Kabras ward, which has the lowest level of electricity use. Mumias North ward is 44 percentage points above the county average level of electricity use.

Kakamega County has 18% of residents who have homes with cement floors, while 80% have earthen floors. Less than 1% has wood or tile floors. Lurambi constituency has the highest share of cement floors at 46%.That is five times Navakholo constituency, which has the lowest share of cement floors. Lurambi is 28 percentage points above the county average of households with cement floors. Mumias North and Shieywe wards have the highest share of cement floors at 69%.This is 17 times West Kabras ward, which has the lowest share of cement floors. These two wards are therefore 51 percentage points above the county average of households with cement floors.

In Kakamega County, less than 1% of residents have homes with concrete roofs, while 77% have corrugated iron sheet roofs. Grass and makuti roofs constitute 20% of homes, and no mud/dung roofs.

Three constituencies, Likuyani, Ikolomani and Lurambi have the highest share of corrugated iron sheet roofs at 90% each. This is 32 percentage points above Malava constituency with the lowest share of corrugated iron sheet roofs. These three constituencies are 13 percentage points above the county average of corrugated iron sheet roofing. Shieywe and Nzoia wards have the highest share of corrugated iron sheet roofing at 95%.This is twice West Kabras ward, which has the lowest share of corrugated iron sheet roofs. The two wards are 18 percentage points above the county average of corrugated iron sheet roofing.

Malava constituency has the highest share of grass/makuti roofs at 38%.This is six times Lurambi constituency, which has the lowest share of grass/makuti roofs. Malava is 18 percentage points above the county average of households with grass/makuti roofing. West Kabras ward has the highest share of grass/makuti roofing at 55%. This is 54 percentage points above Shieywe ward, which has the lowest share. West Kabras is 35 percentage points above the county average of households with grass/makuti roofing.

In Kakamega County, 14% of homes have either brick or stone walls. 85% of homes have mud/wood or mud/cement walls. Less than 1% has wood walls, corrugated iron sheet, grass/thatched, tin or other walls.

Lurambi constituency has the highest share of brick/stone walls at 33%.This is four times Navakholo constituency, which has the lowest share of brick/stone walls. Lurambi is 19 percentage points above the county average of households with brick/stone walls. Mumias North ward has the highest share of brick/stone walls at 56%.This is 19 times West Kabras ward, which has the lowest share of brick/stone walls. Mumias North is 42 percentage points above the county average of households with brick/stone walls.

Navakholo constituency has the highest share of mud with wood/cement walls at 92%.This is 26 percentage points above Lurambi constituency, which has the lowest share of mud with wood/cement. Navakholo is 7 percentage points above the county average of households having mud with wood/cement walls. West Kabras ward has the highest share of mud with wood/cement walls at 96%.This is almost thrice Mumias North ward, which has the lowest share of housing having mud with wood/cement walls. West Kabras ward is 11 percentage points above the county average of households having mud with wood/cement walls.

Improved sources of water comprise protected spring, protected well, borehole, piped into dwelling, piped and rain water collection while unimproved sources include pond, dam, lake, stream/river, unprotected spring, unprotected well, jabia, water vendor and others.

 In Kakamega County, 61% of residents use improved sources of water, while the rest relying on unimproved sources. In use of improved sources there is no gender differential in the 61% of both male headed and female headed households that use the facilities.

 Mumias West constituency has the highest share of residents using improved sources of water at 78%.This is twice Shinyalu constituency, which has the lowest share using improved sources of water. Mumias West is 17 percentage points above the county average of residents using improved sources of water. Namamali ward has the highest share of residents using improved sources of water at 89%.This is almost five times Murhanda ward, which has the lowest share using improved sources of water. Namamali ward has 28 percentage points above the county average of residents using improved sources of water.

A total of 84% of residents in Kakamega County use improved sanitation, while the rest use unimproved sanitation. Use of improved sanitation is equal by gender as 84% in households headed by either gender utilize these facilities.

 Two constituencies, Shinyalu and Mumias East, have the highest share of residents using improved sanitation at 90% each. This is 14 percentage points above Malava constituency, which has the lowest share using improved sanitation. The two constituencies are therefore 6 percentage points above the county average of residents using improved sanitation. Isukha North ward has the highest share of residents using improved sanitation at 96%. This is twice Kongoni ward, which has the lowest share using improved sanitation. Isukha North ward is 12 percentage points above the county average of residents using improved sanitation.