Sights of youth leaving the country for casual jobs abroad have become common amid increasing levels of unemployment. Photo | File
At least 8,666 Ugandans left the country in March in search of employment, according to a report by the Ministry of Finance.
The
Finance Ministry report titled, Emerging Microeconomic Trends and
Patterns for Policy Attention in the 2020/21 financial year, noted there
was a sharp increase in migrant workers driving the numbers northwards.
The
report, which highlights a number of other economic fundamentals, noted
that the number of migrant employees who had left the country during
March had grown by 3,410, rising to 8,666 up from 5,256 in February,
which indicated a 39 per cent surge and 2,334 in January.
While the exact figure of Ugandan migrant workers is hard to establish due to lack of data and illegal exits, a 2019 joint report by Uganda Hotels, Food, Tourism, Supermarkets and Allied Workers’ Union and the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, noted that the number of Ugandan migrant workers, especially in the Middle East, has been growing exponentially at an average of 15 per cent per annum.
The report noted that between 2016 and 2018, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development had indicated that the number of Ugandan migrant workers in the Middle East alone had grown to 31,859 but has since risen to more than 100,000 with at least 21,716 of these stationed in Saudi Arabia and Jordan alone.
Others are spread throughout the region with majority employed as casual labourers.
The
United Nations estimates that more than 620,000 Ugandans live outside
the country and are employed within East Africa, Africa, Europe, Asia,
Americas and Middle East among others.
However, at least 96 per cent of these who are above 18 years, are employed in casual arrangements with only 3 per cent working as professionals while 1 per cent live off relatives and friends.
The acute unemployment among the youth has in the last 10 years made migrant employment the best alternative for a number of Ugandans with droves seeking to leave the country annually.
While the Ministry of Finance attributed the March increase to Covid-19 as a number of returnees sought search for new opportunities, experts say the trend even pre-Covid-19 has started to escalate becoming a near crisis.
Dr Fred Muhumuza, a Makerere University lecturer at the School of Economics, said it was urgent that government streamlines labour export as an alternative to relieve itself from the pressure of decades of failing policies.
President Museveni recently lashed out on labour export companies that have made it a point to export Ugandans in search of casual jobs.
However, a number of people said the President was guilty of “systematic failures” by his government that continue to render Ugandans jobless.
Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, an economist and lecturer at Makerere University Business School, the situation that was already bad had been worsened by Covid-19 with a number of jobs wiped out.
“Covid-19 has destroyed so many jobs yet there hasn’t been much effort to protect jobs or create new ones. With the economy shrinking and jobs destroyed, definitely so many people have been exposed,” he said, noting that unless the economy recovers quickly so many Ugandans will seek alternatives out.
More will live
According to Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, Covid-19 is expected to drive more Ugandans into migrant employment given that a number of sector that employ Ugandans are still under lockdown yet those that are operating are producing at a low capacity.
dnakaweesi@ug.nationmedia.com
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