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 39.3 up to ward level.

Table 39: Overall Employment by Education levels in Taita-Taveta County

In Taita-Taveta County, 21% of the residents with no formal education, 22% of those with a primary education and 32% of those with a secondary level of education or above work for pay. Work for pay for those with a secondary or above level of education is highest in Nairobi at 49% and this is 17 percentage points above the level in Taita-Taveta.

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. Taita-Taveta County’s Gini index is 0.437 compared with Turkana County, which has the least inequality nationally (0.283).

Only 2% of residents in Taita-Taveta County use Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), 5% use paraffin, 69% use firewood and 24% use charcoal. Firewood is the most common cooking fuel by gender at 67% in male headed households and 73% in female headed households.

Wundanyi and Mwatate constituencies have the highest level of firewood use in Taita-Taveta County at 80% each. This is 27 percentage points above the level of Voi constituency, which has the lowest share. Wundanyi and Mwatate are therefore 11 percentage points above the county average. Wusi/Kishamba ward has the highest level of firewood use in Taita-Taveta County at 93%.This is four times the level in the Kaloleni ward, which has the lowest use of firewood at 21%. Wusi/Kishamba is 24 percentage points above the county average.

 Voi constituency has the highest level of charcoal use in Taita-Taveta County at 34%.This is almost three times the level in Wundanyi constituency, which has lowest level of charcoals use at 13%. Voi constituency is 10 percentage points above the county average. Bomani ward has the highest level of charcoal use in Taita-Taveta County at 61%.This is 12 times the level of Wusi/Kishamba, which has the lowest level of charcoal use at 5%. Bomani ward is 27 percentage points above the county average.

 Voi constituency has the highest level of paraffin use in Taita-Taveta County at 9%. This is four times the Mwatate constituency that is the lowest at 2%. Voi is 4 percentage points higher than the county average. Kaloleni ward has the highest level of paraffin use in Taita-Taveta County at 17%.This is 16 percentage points above Kasigau and Mahoo wards, which have the lowest level of use. Kaloleni ward is 12 percentage points above the county average.

A total of 15% of residents in Taita-Taveta County use electricity as their main source of lighting, 46% use lanterns, 35% use tin lamps, and 1% use fuel wood. Electricity use is mostly common in male headed households at 16% as compared with female headed households at 13%.

 Voi constituency has the highest level of electricity use at 19%.That is 11 percentage points above Mwatate constituency, which has the lowest level of electricity use. Voi constituency is 4 percentage points above the county average. Bomani ward has the highest level of electricity use at 44%.That is 44 percentage points above Ngolia ward, which has the lowest level of electricity use. Bomani ward is 29 percentage points above the county average.

In Taita-Taveta County, 43% of residents have homes with cement floors, while 55% have earth floors. 1% has tile floors and less than 1% has floors made of wood. Voi constituency has the highest share of cement floors at 56%.This is almost twice Taveta constituency, which has the lowest share of cement floors. Voi constituency is 13 percentage points above the county average. Kaloleni ward has the highest share of cement floors at 80%.This is four times Mata ward, which has the lowest share of cement floors. Kaloleni is 37 percentage points above the county average.

Taita-Taveta County has less than 1% of residents in homes with concrete roofs, while 85% have corrugated iron sheet roofing. Grass and makuti roofs constitute 8% of homes, and less than 1% has mud/dung roofs.

Wundanyi constituency has the highest share of corrugated iron sheet roofs at 90%.This is 16 percentage points above Taveta constituency, which has the lowest share of corrugated iron sheet roofing. Wundanyi constituency is therefore 5 percentage points above the county average. Wusi/Kishamba ward has the highest share of corrugated iron sheet roofs at 96%.This is almost twice Mata ward, which has the lowest share of corrugated iron sheet roofs. Wusi/Kishamba ward is 11 percentage points above the county average.

 Taveta constituency has the highest share of grass/makuti roofs at 20%.This is almost 7 times Mwatate constituency, which has the lowest share of grass/makuti roofs. Taveta is 12 percentage points above the county average. Mata ward has the highest share of grass/makuti roofs at 40% which is 40 percentage points above Wundanyi/Mbale ward, which has the lowest share. Mata ward is therefore 32 percentage points above the county average.

In Taita-Taveta County, 47% of homes have either brick or stone walls. 48% of homes have mud/wood or mud/cement walls. A further 2% have tin or other walls while   1% has wood walls, corrugated iron sheet walls, and grass/thatched walls equally.

Wundanyi constituency has the highest share of brick/stone walls at 61%.This is almost 24 percentage points above Taveta constituency with the lowest share of brick/stone walls. Wundanyi is 14 percentage points above the county average. Werugha ward has the highest share of brick/stone walls at 74%.That is four times Mata ward, which has the lowest share of brick/stone walls. Werugha is 27 percentage points above the county average.

Taveta constituency has the highest share of mud with wood/cement walls at 59%.This is almost twice Wundanyi constituency, which has the lowest share of households having mud with wood/cement. Taveta constituency is 11 percentage points above the county average. Mata ward has the highest share of households having mud with wood/cement walls at 80%.That is three times Werugha ward, which has the lowest share of households having mud with wood/cement walls. Mata ward is 32 percentage points above the county average.

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.

Taita-Taveta County has 64% of residents using improved sources of water, while the rest rely on unimproved sources. There is no significant gender differential in use of improved sources as the share of male headed households is at 64% compared with female headed households at 62%.

Voi constituency has the highest share of residents using improved sources of water at 77%.This is almost twice the Wundanyi constituency, which has the lowest share of using improved sources of water. Voi is 13 percentage points above the county average of residents using improved sources of water. Maungu ward has the highest share of residents using improved sources of water at 93%.This is almost four times the Mwanda/Mgage ward, which has the lowest share of households using improved sources of water. Maungu is 29 percentage points above the county average.

In Taita-Taveta County, 67% of residents use improved sanitation, while the rest use unimproved sanitation. There is no significant gender differential in the use of improved sanitation as male headed households are at 67% compared with 69% for female headed households.

 Mwatate constituency has the highest share of residents using improved sanitation at 87%.This is twice Taveta constituency, which has the lowest share using improved sanitation. Mwatate is 20 percentage points above the county average of residents using improved sanitation. Wusi/ Kishamba ward has the highest share of residents using improved sanitation facilities at 93%.This is almost three times Chala ward, which has the lowest share of households using improved sanitation. Wusi/ Kishamba is 26 percentage points above the county average of residents using improved sanitation.