LABOUR MARKET PROFILE
2015
Uganda
LO/FTF Council’s Analytical Unit
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish Trade Council for International Development and Cooperation
Labour Market Profile 2015
PREFACE
The LO/FTF Council presents this Labour Market Profile
as a yearly updated report that provides an overview
of the labour market's situation.
This country profile presents the recent main
developments and is not an in-depth analysis.
Nevertheless, it shows a wide range of data in a
reader-friendly style. Certain key findings of this report
can be found on the Executive Summary.
The report is divided in 11 thematic sections, which
includes trade unions, employers’ organizations,
tripartite structures, national labour legislation,
violations of trade union rights, working conditions,
situation of the workforce (with subsections such as
unemployment, sectoral employment, migration,
informal economy, child labour, gender, and youth),
education (with subsection vocational training), social
protection, general economic performance, and trade.
Additionally, the reader may find, an appendix
including a list of the ratified ILO Conventions.
As indicated, the report is driven by statistical data
selection from international databanks, surveys and
reports (e.g. the International Labour Organization
(ILO), the International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC), the World Bank, WageIndicator Foundation, the
Africa Labour Research & Educational Institute (ALREI),
etc.) as well as national statistical institutions and
ministries, and others. Moreover, narrative inputs are
collected from international news sources (e.g. The
Economist, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),
LabourStart, The Guardian, etc.) together with local
sources such as trade unions centers, NGOs, local news,
the LO/FTF Council’s Sub-Regional Office, among
others.
This report also collects references from several
indexes, e.g. Global Rights Index, Doing Business Index,
Benin 2015
the Governance Indicators, and the Human
Development Index. The indexes’ methodologies and
the data quality can be followed by the sources
websites.
All sources, indicators and/or narrative inputs that are
used are available by links through footnotes.
It is noteworthy to highlight that although most of the
statistical data is available, there were some problems
with availability and reliability of the data. In
particular, the data collection of trade union
membership, Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs),
women’s trade union membership and occupational
health and safety (OHS) committees are a challenge.
Therefore, used data from these abovementioned
indicators should be interpreted with some reservations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This Labour Market Profile is prepared by the LO/FTF
Council’s Analytical Unit in Copenhagen with support
from our Sub-Region Office in Tanzania as well as our
local partners in terms of data collection of trade union
membership.
All other labour market profiles of the countries where
LO/FTF Council operates are available at our website:
http://www.ulandssekretariatet.dk/content/landeanaly
ser
Should you have questions about the profiles you can
contact Kasper Andersen ([email protected]), Manager of
the Analytical Unit.
Cover Photo: Carsten Snejbjerg
Editing, design and layout: Adriana Romero
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Labour Market Profile 2015
Uganda
Labour Market Profile
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This past decade has been a hectic period of labour
law reforms in Uganda. New instruments designed
through tripartite consultations were created to fill in
gaps in the legislation, as well as to improve
implementation and compliance processes. The
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has still
registered flaws in the legislation, though. Similarly
freedom of association and right to collective
bargaining are also often not generally respected just
as rights are not always protected by the government
itself.
The workforce’s growth encompasses one of the
youngest and fastest population expansions in Africa. In
recent years the labour productivity has not curbed the
evolution of the employment rate. The labour
participation for both total and youth have
experienced a marginal decline coupled with an
increasing inactivity, i.e. not engaged actively in the
labour market, either by working or looking for work.
The general unemployment rates have stayed flat and
below the Sub-Saharan Africa’s averages.
A clear deficit on the labour market is the high
incidence of under-education, which has been assessed
at three out of four (73 percent) young workers. This is
related to weaknesses in the education system. The
vocational training system is ineffective and has not
been able to follow the increasing enrolment of youth in
the education system. In addition, most skill and
vocational training does not follow more efficient inemployment models.
Another issue is that the labour market is confronting a
high pressure to create jobs and has been weighed
being unable to deliver the demand within the formal
sector. During the last decade Uganda has
experienced, to some degree, a change in the sector
share where the industry sector now supersedes the
agricultural sector in terms of the Gross Domestic
Production (GDP). This can to some extent explain why
the relative numbers of wage and salaried workers
have increased while own-account workers and
contributing family workers fell slightly. However, the
wage and salaried workers continues to be low as one
out of five (20 percent) of the workers.
Uganda 2015
As a contrast, an estimated 7 out of 10 (69 percent) of
workers are in informal employment (in total nonagricultural employment). And there are indications that
it is a gradually increasing segment of workers. This
equally illustrates a fragmentation of the labour
market; which is marred by often lack of written
contracts, lacks of job security and labour market
regulations due to either avoided or lack of awareness.
Since many Ugandans work in the informal economy, it
has created a decreasing effect to the unemployment
rate. However, many of these workers are
underemployed because there are no available
opportunities to match their skills in the formal economy.
Equally important, the social security coverage is limited
to formal sector workers. In numbers, Uganda’s health
social protection covers only 2 percent of the country’s
populations.
The doing business environment has experienced some
improvements, which is especially in terms of getting
credit; but continues to be affected by a weak
governance milieu due to corruption and frail political
stability. On the other hand, Uganda has shown a
significant reduction of working poor, which is now
lower than the Sub-Saharan Africa’s average. Also a
middle-class is on a rise. A legal minimum wage remains
outdated back from 1984, and, generally, the wages
remain very low in Uganda and they have experienced
to the eroded by the inflation in consumer prices. Some
initiatives have been made to formalize the fixing of
the minimum wage, but so far it has not succeeded.
The trade union movement has observed strengthening
ties due to improved social dialogue in recent years.
Around 2.9 percent of the workforce is member of the
trade union movement while 13 percent among waged
workers. What many trade union workers experience is
that their employers ignore the legal requirement to
enter into collective bargaining agreements. Likewise,
some employers resort to subcontracting and
outsourcing services or hire workers temporarily to
avoid such agreements. Another key point is that many
workers from the informal economy are becoming
affiliated to trade union.
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COUNTRY MAP
Source: The CIA World Factbook
Uganda 2015
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Preface........................................................................................................................................................................ ii
Acknowledgment ....................................................................................................................................................... ii
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................... iii
Country Map .............................................................................................................................................................. iv
Trade Union ................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Employers’ Organisations .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Central Tripartite Structures ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Industrial Relations Charter ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Labour Advisory Board (LAB) ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Minimum Wage Advisory Board ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
National Negotiation and Consultation Council (NNCC) ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Industrial Court ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Other bi/tripartite organs ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
National Labour Legislation ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Employment (Employment of Children) Regulations .................................................................................................. 4
Trade Union Rights Violations .................................................................................................................................... 4
Working Conditions .................................................................................................................................................... 5
Workforce ................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Unemployment ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Sectoral Employment .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Informal Economy................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Migration .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
Child Labour........................................................................................................................................................................................................................11
Gender .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11
Youth .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12
Education .................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Vocational training ............................................................................................................................................................................................................13
Social Protection ....................................................................................................................................................... 14
General Economic Performance ................................................................................................................................ 16
Trade ........................................................................................................................................................................ 18
Trade Agreements .............................................................................................................................................................................................................19
Export Processing Zones (EPZ) ........................................................................................................................................................................................19
Appendix: Additional Data ....................................................................................................................................... 21
References ................................................................................................................................................................ 24
Uganda 2015
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Tables
Table 1: Facts of trade unions in Uganda, 2014.................................................................................................................................... 1
Table 2: Trade Union Centres in Uganda, 2014 .................................................................................................................................... 1
Table 3: Uganda: Global Rights Index (2015) ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Table 4: ILO Complaints Procedure ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Table 5: Wages and earnings, Monthly average and legal minimum wages ................................................................................. 5
Table 6: Working Conditions in Uganda .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Table 7: Employment rates among men and women in Uganda, 2013 ............................................................................................ 6
Table 8: Inactivity rate in Uganda, 2013, % .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Table 9: Skills mismatches between job requirements and qualifications in Uganda ..................................................................... 7
Table 10: Uganda’s Comparative average GDP growth per capita, employment and working age population ................. 7
Table 11: Unemployment in Uganda, 2013 ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Table 12: Employment (2005) & GDP share (2012) Sector & Sex distribution .............................................................................. 8
Table 13: Employment in the informal economy in Uganda, 2010, % .............................................................................................. 9
Table 14: Migration Facts ..........................................................................................................................................................................10
Table 15: Working children Proportion of all children in age group ..............................................................................................11
Table 16: Ugandan youth population by main economic activity (2013) and youth participation rate trend, 1991-2013 ,
% .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................12
Table 17: Highest level attained and years of schooling in the population (2010) .....................................................................12
Table 18: Vocational Training (2010) ....................................................................................................................................................13
Table 19: Public spending on social protection schemes in Uganda, 2011 ....................................................................................14
Table 20: Benefits, coverage and contributions to pension schemes in Uganda, 2007-2012 ...................................................15
Table 21: General Economic Performance Key Facts ..........................................................................................................................16
Table 22: GDP real growth .......................................................................................................................................................................16
Table 23: Uganda’s Ease of Doing Business ..........................................................................................................................................18
Table 24: Uganda' Governance Indicators, 2008-2013 ...................................................................................................................18
Table 25: Trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) 2014 (est.).....................................................................................................18
Table 26: Ratified ILO Conventions .........................................................................................................................................................21
Table 27: Trade Unions in Uganda..........................................................................................................................................................22
Figures
Figure 1: Minimum wage in Uganda (2000-2013), Shillings ............................................................................................................... 5
Figure 2: Average earnings in Uganda, Shillings and US$, 2004-2012.......................................................................................... 5
Figure 3: Labour force participation and working age population inactivity trends, 1993-2013 ............................................. 6
Figure 4: Labour productivity ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Figure 5: Unemployment trends in Uganda and the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), 2000-2013, % ............................................... 8
Figure 6: Sector Share in Uganda, 2000-2013, % of GDP ................................................................................................................ 9
Figure 7: Status of employment in Uganda, 2002-2013, % ............................................................................................................... 9
Figure 8: Employment by Activity Status in Uganda (2002/03 - 2009/10), %...........................................................................10
Figure 9: Distribution of employees engaged in the informal economy in Uganda, 2009-2010 .............................................10
Figure 10: Distribution of Informal Businesses by Industry (2009-2010), % .................................................................................10
Figure 11: Location of unpaid workers in Uganda (2008) .................................................................................................................12
Figure 12: School levels and Enrolment (%) (2000-2012) Total and Women, Uganda & Sub-Sahara Africa .....................13
Figure 13: Vocational training trends (2000-2010) ............................................................................................................................14
Figure 14: Total health-care expenditure not financed by private household’s out-of-pocket payments, 1995-2011 ......15
Figure 15: GDP per capita (PPP), trend and forecast, 2002-2018, Current US$........................................................................16
Figure 16: Working poor (1992-2012), Share of workers in total employment, % ....................................................................17
Figure 17: Middle-class in Uganda & the Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) average (1999-2012), % ..........................................17
Figure 18: Inflation trend and forecast (2002-2018), % ...................................................................................................................17
Figure 19: Gross Fixed Capital Formation (2000-2013), ..................................................................................................................17
Figure 20: Uganda's main products share of exports, 2012 .............................................................................................................18
Figure 21: Uganda's main export markets, 2013 ................................................................................................................................19
Uganda 2015
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TRADE UNION
The development of trade unions in Uganda can be
traced as early as the 1930’s when the first trade union
was formed.1 Unions have shifted from the old style of
unionism of 'craft unions' to more industrial and general
workers unions.
Unions are legally independent from government and
political parties. However, five seats in the National
Assembly are set aside for worker organizations and
have been filled by members of the ruling party, the
National Resistance Movement (NRM). Four of five
workers representatives were elected by the National
Organization of Trade Unions (NOTU) and one by the
Central Organization of Free Trade Unions (COFTU).
Some cases suggest government union interference and
the five seats members do not always represent the
interests of workers.2
All unions must be registered under the National
Organization of Trade Unions (NOTU) or the Central
Organization of Free Trade Unions (COFTU). Today,
forty labour unions are registered; of these 20 are
affiliated to NOTU and 13 to COFTU; while 12 are
independent. By sector, there are registered ten unions
under agriculture, six in tele-communication; four
teaching institutions, two medical, one hotel, two mines,
two entertainment, one printing, one textile, one
electricity, among others.3 Around 440,000 workers are
registered as members of trade union, which illustrates
a 2.9 percent of the labour force or 13 percent of
workers in the formal sector (Table 1).
Table 1: Facts of trade unions in Uganda4, 2014
Trade unions and membership shares
Number of trade unions
(NOTU & COFTU + independent unions)
Due
Members of trade unions
45
2-3 %
440,000
Trade union members share of workers *)
2.9 %
Trade union members to waged
workers *)
15 %
Female member share of trade unions
Members of affiliated trade unions
from the informal economy
Labour force (2015 est.)5
N/A
71,000
16,164,000
*) The trade union density was estimated based on ILO’s estimations
of the labour force in 2014 and the wages workers in 2013.
Despite previous rivalry between the NOTU and the
COFTU, they have been strengthening ties, particularly
Uganda 2015
in cases of joint actions and positions. Similarly, they are
strengthening unity of the trade union movement yet a
merger of these two organizations is still too been seen
in the long run. On the other hand, eight affiliated
unions left COFTU in late 2013, and seven applied for
affiliation to NOTU. COFTU is left with 12 affiliated
unions (Table 27). NOTU approved the application for
affiliation in April 2014. However, the Ministry
responsible for Labour intervened and the case is still
pending on the General Attorney. NOTU considers this
to be a violation of the freedom of association.
According to NOTU, 22 Collective Bargaining
Agreements (CBAs) were signed in 2014.6 Unions
affiliated to NOTU are reported to have concluded 60
CBAs. As already indicated, NOTU appears to be
outgrowing the competing confederation COFTU that is
supported by government and dominated by brief-case
unions (see also Table 2).
7
Table 2: Trade Union Centres in Uganda, 2014
Trade Union Centre
NOTU National Organization
of Trade Unions *)
COFTU
Confederation of Free Trade
Unions
Total
Members8
(2014)
290,449
(2014)
No. of
CBAs
60
30,000
(2014 est.)
-
Independent unions
120,000
-
Total
440,000
60
*) The ITUC affiliate in Uganda is NOTU.
Note: There is no data on the number of workers covered by the
CBAs.
In terms of CBAs, a key point is that the labour
legislation does not provide the right to collective
bargaining in the public service sector. The law also
does not explicitly provide trade union federations and
confederations the right to engage in collective
bargaining. Moreover, a document of recognition must
be obtained before unions could engage in collective
bargaining.9
However, negotiation structures were set up recently in
the public sector. Among others, the government has
signed a recognition agreement with the public service
unions, although the Uganda Public Employees was
inadvertent not included, according to union officials. It
has also been noted that public service unions are able
to negotiate salaries and employment terms for
members. Not to mention, NOTU campaigned in 2015
against a 40 percent increment to members of
parliament as a reaction to governments’ refusal to
increase teachers’ salaries.
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According to the U.S. Annual Country Report on Human
Rights Practices 2014, union activists have argued that
some employers ignore the legal requirement to enter
into collective bargaining agreements with registered
unions. Likewise, some employers resort to
subcontracting and outsourcing services or hire workers
temporarily to avoid such agreements.10
NOTU’s new constitution from 2012 has turned into
improvements such as the direct check-off system for
union fees. It has improved NOTU financial situation and
sustainability considerable. Next step is to increase the
efficiency in fee collection from private employers.
This constitution has equally made way for proportional
representation and for direct affiliation of informal
economy associations. NOTU developed an Informal
Sector Collaboration Strategy 2014-2015. Based on
estimations NOTU has organized over 71,000 workers
from the informal economy in total as of 2015, and
recorded nine associations from the competing national
organization COFTU. Associations from the informal
economy have been organized by NOTU into its
affiliated unions. Here, NOTU has used its regional
trainer networks to provide training in trade unionism
and organizing, data collection on informal economy
and dissemination of trade union materials as part of
NOTU strategies to provide services to the informal
economy.
Equally important, in 2015, the social dialogue in the
labour market was improved with constructive and
consensus-seeking social dialogue between NOTU and
the employers’ organization FUE. NOTU is together with
FUE pushing government to set up a separate ministry
of labour and strengthen the industrial court. Also,
NOTU and FUE are jointly providing data collection and input to government on fixing of minimum wages in
the private sector.
EMPLOYERS’ ORGANISATIONS
Federation of Ugandan Employers (FUE)11
Founded in 1958, FUE is the main employers’
organization in Uganda, and therefore has
representatives in most important bi/tripartite organs,
such as the Minimum Wage Advisory Boards, Industrial
Court, National Social Security Board, Labour Advisory
Board, etc. FUE’s mission is to enhance member’s
competitiveness through policy advocacy, promotion of
best human resource practices and provision of business
Uganda 2015
development services. It has 354 enterprise members
and 18 sectorial employers’ organisation members. FUE
handles industrial relations and also provides (mainly
legal) services to its members.
In tripartite settings, FUE mainly works with NOTU as the
equal social partner rather than COFTU. FUE is
governed by an annual general meeting. FUE are
actively involved in providing useful institutional services
to informal economy businesses. The Chairperson of
FUE, Ms. Rosemary N. Ssenbulya at the same time is
Chairperson of the East African Employers Organization
(EAEO).
FUE and the Human Resource Management Associations
of Uganda (HRMAU) launched a joint survey in June
2015 that focuses on people and culture management
practices. The aim of the survey is to recognize Human
Resource talent as well as business practices in
multinational and local companies in Uganda.
CENTRAL TRIPARTITE STRUCTURES
Industrial Relations Charter
In May 23rd 2013, a tri-partite national charter on
industrial relations was signed between the
Government, FUE and NOTU & COFTU, spelling out the
working relations between the involved parties. The
charter holds clauses on “one workplace, one union”,
addressing demarcation lines between trade unions
thereby in effect regulating relations between NOTU
and COFTU. The two latter organizations have also
prepared for signing a bi-partite charter on industrial
relations with FUE addressing the private sector. The
rivalry between NOTU and COFTU has so far put the
process on hold, though. According to the government,
the Tripartite Charter is operational. The existence of
an Industrial relations Charter has at least enhanced
industrial peace and harmony.
Labour Advisory Board (LAB)
LAB was appointed in 2011 after almost a decade of
no such tripartite advisory body and with no budgetary
allocations committed to operate effectively and
efficiently. Today LAB consists of 13 members, of whom
the employers’ and trade unions organizations have two
representatives each and six ministries are represented.
The board advises the Minister of Labour on labour
legislation and employment matters, oversees the
labour inspectorates, implementation of labour policy,
among others. In the beginning of 2009 a technical
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Labour Market Profile 2015
tripartite committee under the auspices of the LAB
started to discuss minimum wages.12
Although tripartite structures for social dialogue such as
the LAB, the Medical Arbitration Board (MAB),
Occupational Safety and Health Board, Industrial Court
exist, it is only the LAB and MAB that are fully functional
due to budgetary constraints to operationalize these
boards.
Minimum Wage Advisory Board
The existence of a minimum wage in Uganda dates
back to the 1930s when the first Minimum Wages
Board was established. The minimum wage continued to
be routinely adjusted until 1984 when it reached 6,000
Ugandan shilling per month. No further adjustments
were subsequently made. Both a reform of the Minimum
Wages Advisory Council from 1995 and a new
Minimum Wage Bill from 2012 have not been passed.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Industrial Training Council
Management Training and Advisory Centre
Business, Technical , Vocational Education and
Training Examinations Board
Nakawa Vocational Training Institute
Skilling Uganda
National Steering Committee on Child Labour
Private Sector Foundation Uganda
NATIONAL LABOUR LEGISLATION
Constitution14
The constitution of 1995 establishes the following: 1)
freedom of association, 2) right to work under safe and
healthy conditions, 3) form and join unions, collective
bargaining and representation, and 3) equal payment
for equal work.
National Negotiation and Consultation Council
(NNCC)
The government inaugurated the NNCC in 2012, which
is a key step in the effort to negotiate the salary and
welfare of government workers, i.e. the public sector
negotiation machinery. The negotiation machinery has
been instrumental in negotiation salary policies and how
to improve salary and working conditions for the
different groups of civil servants.
The last decade was a hectic period of labour law
reform in Uganda. The purpose of new instruments was
to fill in the gaps in legislation and, in particular, to
improve the existing framework of labour law for
better implementation and compliance. Moreover, to
the enactment of a number of statutes, a set of
regulations in the area of labour and employment were
adopted in 2011. Remarkably, these instruments were
the result of tripartite consultation.
Industrial Court
The Industrial Court hears and arbitrates on all trade
disputes referred to it by the minister responsible of
labour. The Industrial Court consists of five members:
two judges, an independent member and a
representative of employers’ organisations and of
trade unions.13
Employment Act15
The Employment act of 2006 establishes fundamental
rights at work, the Labour Advisory Board and Labour
Inspectorate. It regulates employment relationship,
wages, leave, working hours and termination of
employment. Labour officials have registered that
Domestic and agricultural workers as well as those in
the informal sector are excluded from the protection of
the labor laws.16
After being inactive for several years the industrial
court commenced work in late 2014 following the
resolving of national budget issues and the long last
appointment of six judges to handle labour disputes.
Due to the none-functionality of the court had created a
pile up of up to 2,013 unheard disputes. The court has
disposed of 20 cases since its reactivation (April 2015).
Other bi/tripartite organs
o Vocational Training Board
o Immigration Board
o Occupational Safety and Health Board
o National Social Security Fund
o National Curriculum Development Centre
o HIV/AIDS Coordination Committee for the Private
Sector
Uganda 2015
The Trade Union Act17 and the Labour Disputes Act18
The Trade Union Act and the Labour Disputes
(Arbitration and Mediation) Act were both enacted in
2006. It regulates Trade Unions, industrial relations,
collective bargaining and reaffirms freedom of
association. The latter act is aiming to simplify and
reduce the statutory procedures for settling labour
disputes, encourage the use of voluntary conciliation
and arbitration and the observance of collective
bargaining agreements. According to the new law some
of the powers of the Minister in charge of labour were
given to more technical people such as the labour
commissioner and the labour officers in the Districts.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Act19
The act of 2006 establishes duties, rights and
responsibilities of workers and employers, health and
welfare requirements and establishes the Occupational
Safety and Health Board. So far more than 800
workplaces have been registered (2015 April).20
In addition, according to the U.S. Annual Country Report
on Human Rights Practices 2014, labor officials
reported that domestic and agricultural workers as well
as workers in the informal sector are excluded from
protection by the labor laws. The report also noted that
the government does not effectively enforce applicable
labor laws.24
The Equal Opportunities Commission Act21
This enacted 2007 act makes provision in relation to the
Equal Opportunities Commission and to eliminate
discrimination and inequalities against any individual or
group of persons on all levels.
TRADE UNION RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Workers Regular Compensation Act
This act from 2011 is related to the workplace,
including the rights and responsibilities of employers,
workers, and other workplace parties, are provided
verbatim and shown in normal text. In addition, the act
deal with administrative provisions, such as
administrative practices and regulation-making
authority of the Workers' Compensation
Employment (Employment of Children) Regulations22
With this act from 2012, the Regulations contain
restrictions on the employment of children, penalties for
violations, a list of hazardous activities prohibited to
children under 18, and a list of activities considered
light work. The list of hazardous activities includes
prohibitions by different age groups of tasks in a
variety of areas, e.g. several agricultural sectors,
construction, mining, and urban informal work. The
regulations also prohibit the use, procurement, or
offering of a child for illicit activities, including the
production and trafficking of drugs.
***
The labour market in Uganda is governed by several
acts, most of them being from 2006. Some of the most
important are included in this profile. Other labour
legislations can be found here.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has
registered some flaws of the legislation. Among others:
i) restrictions on the right to elect representatives and
self-administer in full freedom; ii) compulsory
conciliation and/or binding arbitration procedure in the
event of disputes during collective bargaining, other
than in essential services; and iii) compulsory recourse to
arbitration, or to long and complex conciliation and
mediation procedures prior to strike actions.23
Uganda 2015
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
ranked Uganda at 3 out of 5+ at the Global Rights
Index. This has been interpreted as ‘regular violation of
rights’ (see table below).
Table 3: Uganda: Global Rights Index25 (2015)
o Regular violation of rights
o Workers in countries with the rating of
3 have reported government and/or
companies are regularly interfering in
3 out of 5+
collective labour rights or are failing
to fully guarantee important aspects
of these rights. There are deficiencies
in laws and/or certain practices which
make frequent violations possible.
Note: Five clusters in total with ratings from 1 to 5. A country is
assigned the rating 5+ by default, if the rule of law has completely
broken down.
Since 2014 ITUC has registered one case related to an
arrest made to trade unionists – something usual in
Uganda. Among others, two unionists were arrested
when they were demanding the introduction of a
minimum wage. Moreover, demonstrations are often
prohibited. For examples, on 1 May 2013 the
leadership of the COFTU and the NOTU were arrested
during the May Day celebration when they were
demanding a minimum wage. They were detained at
Kampala Police Station for two days before being
released on bail.26
Also the U.S. Annual Country Report on Human Rights
Practices 201427 registered that there were several
instances of government interference in union activity.
According to local media, 25 strikes over low salaries,
wages, delayed salaries, and poor working conditions
were activated as per September 2014. It was
registered that police occasionally used excessive force
to disrupt striking workers.
Moreover, antiunion discrimination occurred, and labor
activists accused several companies of preventing
employees from joining unions by denying promotions,
not renewing work contracts, and sometimes refusing to
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recognize unions. Among others, NOTU cited numerous
companies that resisted trade unions, including Chinese
companies. NOTU reported that many workers failed to
join trade unions for fear of intimidation and dismissal.
NOTU was compiling the names of the companies, and
a list was pending at year’s end.
ILO's Committee of Freedom of Association has no
Freedom of Association cases or follow-up cases in
Uganda (Table 4).
wages. But as mentioned, no progress has been made
so far. The issue on minimum wages was tabled before
the Application Committee of the International Labour
Conference (ILC) in June 2014. Uganda promised to
fast-track the fixing of minimum wages to be effective
by the financial year 2014/2015. However, no funds
were allocated in the national budget to cater to this
process.
Figure 1: Minimum wage in Uganda (2000-2013), Shillings
8000
Table 4: ILO Complaints Procedure28
6000
Freedom of Association cases in Uganda (2015)
Active
Follow-up
0
0
Closed
4
4000
2000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Minimum nominal monthly wage
WORKING CONDITIONS
The legal minimum wage has not been updated since
1984 and is set at 6,000 Shillings (US$2.2) (Table 5 &
Figure 1). In 2003, the government and the private
sector attempted to negotiate the minimum wage, thus,
raising it to 54,000 Shillings (US$21), yet no legislation
has been passed to implement this new negotiation.29
Some government workers, including teachers, get as
little as 250,000 Shillings (US$84), which is about half
of the minimum wage in Kenya.
Table 5: Wages and earnings, Monthly average and legal
minimum wages
Source
Average wages
(2012)
Median Wage
(2007)
Minimum wage (as of
1984) (2013)
Non-implemented
minimum wage from
2003 (2011)
Growth of real
minimum wage
(2000-2013)
Growth of real
average wage
(2004-2012)
Growth of real
average wage, %
annual growth
(2006-2012)
Current
Ugandan
Shilling
459,639
Global Wage
Database30
U.S. Human
Rights Report31
140,000
2011
US$
187
89
6,000
2.2
54,000
21
-1.7 %
Global Wage
Database30
73 %
-0.7 %
The Minimum Wage Board was institutionalized in
August 2013 and is in charge of reviewing minimum
Uganda 2015
Real minimum wage
Figure 2 below shows an increase on average earnings
in the country, including in real terms. However, the
inflation of consumer prices has eaten some of these
increases; so far the real average earnings peaked at
400,000 Shillings (US$158) in 2012.
Figure 2: Average earnings in Uganda, Shillings and US$,
2004-201232
500000
200
450000
180
173
400000
350000
300000
139
125
150
145
127
158160
134
140
124
120
250000
100
200000
80
150000
60
100000
40
50000
20
0
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Mean nominal earnings
Real mean nominal earnings
Real mean nominal earnings (US$)
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards are
legally set. But violations of OSH standards – just as
standard wages and overtime pay – is common in
several sectors, including steel fabrication factories,
domestic work, and the informal economy.33 There are
in fact no OSH specialists working in the districts. The
OSH Department has a total of 26 staff out of a
possible 48 budgeted positions. The inability of the
OSH inspectors to effectively cover the entire Ugandan
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Labour Market Profile 2015
territory has drawn calls for the Ministry to place OSH
inspectors at the district level.
The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS rose to 34 percent of
the population in the 1980s. Political will, donor
support, formation of various organizations to promote
awareness of the disease confronted the epidemic.
Today, the rate is 7%. The trade union movement has
been active in promoting awareness activities of OSH
and HIV/AIDS activities e.g. support HIV/AIDS
workplace policy/strategy and include the theme in
CBAs.34 Also the heated debate over the anti-gay law
– and the general public opinion being in support of the
law – was considered a major setback for the fight
against HIV/AIDS. However, NOTU, with the support
from ILO, recently launched a standard CBA to
mainstream and negotiate better working conditions for
people living with HIV/AIDS in different sectors.
According to labour activists government oversight of
labour practices is insufficient. For example, only 44 of
the 112 districts have labour inspectors present. Since
the beginning of FY 2014/15, 117 labour inspections
were conducted. The total number of workers found in
the inspected workplaces was 23,211. Additionally, the
Medical Arbitration Board had handled 72 cases out of
114 in 2015 (April 2015).35 NOTU registered two
deaths and four injuries during 2014 that were related
to poor safety practices at several construction
projects.36
Another issue is that most employers do not give
employees written contracts of employment, resulting in
lack of job security and union representation.37 An
overall view of the working conditions in Uganda is
presented in Table 6 below.
Table 6: Working Conditions in Uganda
48 hours
Overtime Limit
Unspecified
Max. Weekly Hours Limit
Unspecified
Min. Mandatory Overtime
premium/time off in Lieu of
Overtime Wages
One and half times of the
normal hourly rate if the
overtime is on the normal
working days
Min. Annual Leave
15 days
Uganda 2015
60 working days
10 weeks
Employer
The total population in Uganda is 37.1 million (2015
est.) out of which 16 million covers the labour force.
Around three-quarters of the population are below the
age of 30 years old. Uganda does have one of the
youngest and fastest growing populations in Africa,
which creates a high pressure of job creation. Males are
slightly more economically active than women (Table 7).
Table 7: Employment rates among men and women in
Uganda39, 2013
Sex
Age
Men & women
Men
Women
Employment rate
Total
15+
75 %
Youth
15-24
55 %
Adult
25+
87 %
Total
15+
77 %
Youth
15-24
56 %
Adult
25+
90 %
Total
15+
72 %
Youth
Adult
15-24
25+
55 %
84 %
The labour force participation rate shows a slight
decrease in the last two decades from 82 percent in
1993 to 78 percent in 2013. In contrast the inactivity
working age population rose from 18 percent to 23
percent, respectively (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Labour force participation and working age
population inactivity trends, 1993-2013
100%
80%
38
Normal Weekly Hour Limit
Duration of Maternity Leave
Benefits
Amount of Maternity Leave
Benefits
Source of Maternity Leave
Benefits
WORKFORCE
60%
40%
20%
0%
1993
2003
2013
Participation rate - 15+
Participation rate - 15-24
Inactivity rate - 15+
Inactivity rate - 15-24
A close to one out of four (23%) of the working age
population (WAP, 15+) and two out of five (41%) of
the youth population (15-24 years old) are inactive on
the labour market; and with minimal gap between men
and women (Table 8).
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Table 8: Inactivity rate in Uganda40, 2013, %
Total
Male
Women
Inactivity rate
23 %
21 %
24 %
Inactivity rate, youth
41 %
41 %
41 %
The skills mismatches are affected by under-education
(73%) and women have a higher incidence (77%) tan
men. Over-education is not a critic issues in Uganda
(Table 9).
Table 9: Skills mismatches between job requirements and
qualifications in Uganda41
by sexes and age group 15-29 years old, 2013, %
Incidence of overeducation
Incidence of undereducation
Total
Male
Women
3.4 %
4.1 %
2.7 %
73 %
69 %
77 %
The labour productivity in Uganda has increased
steady in the last decade, although it lost its tempo
since 2010. The country’s labour productivity remains
much lower than the Sub-Saharan Africa’s average.
Figure 4: Labour productivity42
Output per unit of labour input based on GDP constant
2005 US$; and labour productivity indexed year 2000
(=100), 1992-2012
25000
200
20000
155 159
150
144
GDP/
employment
GDP/
WAP
Employment/
WAP
2004-08
1.9 %
1.8 %
-0.1 %
2009-13
-1.0 %
-1.1 %
0.0 %
2004-13
0.4 %
0.3 %
-0.1 %
Years
Note: The columns above reflect:
i) GDP per
capita/employment equals GDP per worker (i.e. labour
productivity); ii) GDP/WAP equals GDP per capita; and iii)
employment/WAP equals the employment rate (ratio of
workers to working-age population (15+)).
Unemployment
According to ILO data from 2013, unemployment is
estimated at 3.8% whereas youth unemployment is at
6.6%, with women having a slight higher unemployment
rates. Underemployment, which means workers who are
overqualified or work less than they could, are given at
time related underemployment at 3.5 percent. Skillrelated underemployment has been estimated at 4.6
percent. (Table 11 & Figure 5).
Table 11: Unemployment in Uganda44, 2013
Total
Men
Women
Unemployment
3.8 %
3.2 %
4.5 %
Youth Unemployment
6.6 %
6.1 %
7.0 %
Underemployment
3.5 %
4.7 %
2.5 %
129
15000
10000
Table 10: Uganda’s Comparative average GDP growth per
capita, employment and working age population
(WAP, 15+)43, 2004-2013
% change on average
91
73
95
100
108
116
100
79
50
5000
0
0
1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Uganda
World
SSA
Uganda - year 2000 (=100)
The labour productivity (i.e. GDP per worker) growth
over the period 2004-2013 was very low at 0.4
percent per year, on average. It is interesting to note
that after a period of positive growth of 1.9 percent on
average in the period 2004-2008, it fell on average
at -1.0 percent during 2009-2013. The evolution of
employment relative to the WAP has been on a flat
average trend (-0.1 percent) in the period 2004-2013
(see table below). This indicates that the low growth in
GDP per capita is mainly due to change in the labour
productivity over this period not employment evolution.
Uganda 2015
It is registered that the share of youth unemployment in
total unemployment has a slow declining trend from 53
percent in 2000 to 51 percent in 2013, which could be
related to the growing enrolment rates in secondary
and tertiary education as well as the increasing
inactivity trend. Also time-related unemployment fell
also fast during the 2000s. Overall, Uganda has lower
unemployment and youth unemployment rates in
comparison with the Sub-Saharan Africa’s average
(Figure 5).
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Figure 5: Unemployment trends in Uganda and the SubSaharan Africa (SSA)45, 2000-2013, %
20
55
17
54
15
53
53
53
53
53
53
12
52
52
10
52
52
52
52
52
52
52
51
51
5
50
3.5
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
49
2000
0
Unemployment rate (%)
Youth unemployment rate (%)
Time-related underemployed as % of total employment
Unemployment - SSA
Youth unemployment - SSA
Share of youth unemployed in total unemployed (%)
These statistical low estimated rates of unemployment
could easy be a misinterpretation of the reality of
employment in Uganda. In contrast, the Uganda Bureau
of Statistics has a much higher estimations, e.g. the
share of unemployed youth – which is national
definition, 18-30 years - among the total unemployed
persons in the country was 64 percent.
Interpretation of the open-unemployment and
employment rates as indicators of a well-functioning
labour market is problematic in developing countries.
When unemployment is not an option where a person
can survive, work of some sort has to be found, often
casual and informal work. Unemployment should
therefore be understood in relation to the strength of
social safety nets, the prevalence of informal
employment and how much of informal employment is
underemployment due to few formal employment
possibilities.46
Moreover, given the rapid growth of the Ugandan
population along with the youth are getting better
educated through higher enrolment rates, a stronger
focus on job creation is on a rise. Among others, the
National Employment Policy for Uganda from 2011 lists
youth employment as a policy priority action area.47
However, the implementation of the employment policy
has moved slowly.
In practice, the scarcity of job opportunities has led to
rural-urban migration, high competition in the labour
market and the emergence of a bulging
underemployed and unproductive work force of young
Uganda 2015
men and women. Additionally, livelihoods in Uganda
are often characterized by underemployment,
informality, high rates of working poverty which
disproportionally affect the youth. As a consequence
many are forced to take up employment in the informal
economy; a sector that provides low skilled poorly
remunerated, hazardous and precarious jobs with
almost no access to social protection.48
How to solve these challenges are not easy and
multifaceted: inadequate investment, insufficient supply
side of jobs, high skills mismatch incidence of undereducation and thus not compatible with available jobs,
and high rates of labor force growth at around 4.7
percent per annum.
A program named “Skilling Uganda” to address
unemployment attempts to streamline skills development
efforts by bringing stakeholders together, e.g. trade
unions, FUE, Private Sector Foundation and Uganda
Manufactures Association, among others.
Sectoral Employment
When comparing each of Uganda’s sectors ( Table 12),
there is a significant difference in numbers employed,
inequality in sex distribution and the large contrast in
the amount of GDP generated by each industry.
Table 12: Employment (2005)49 & GDP share (2012)50
Sector & Sex distribution
Male
employment
Women
employment
GDP
share per
sector
234
24
0.4%
298,652
153,036
8.8%
7,007
1,001
4.2%
Construction
149,966
2,580
15%
Trade, restaurants &
hotels
534,592
522,913
24%
Transport &
communication
199,044
13,419
5.3%
Finance, real estate &
business services
51,336
14,420
7.8%
Public administration
& services
445,957
316,675
3.1%
N/A
N/A
7.9%
3,727,356
4,580,916
24 %
Sector
Mining & quarrying
Manufacturing
Electricity, gas &
water
Other services
Agriculture
The sectors that make the highest contributions to GDP
are both the agricultural sector and the trade,
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Danish Trade Council for International Development and Cooperation
Labour Market Profile 2015
restaurant and hotel sector with each adding an
astonishing 24 percent of share; making it a total
aggregated 48 percent of GDP. Undoubtedly, the
agricultural sector concentrates an employment rate of
75 percent of the country’s workers. It is important to
note that despite the growing economic input this sector
provides it can to some extent, affect its productivity
levels due to the rising levels of urbanisation.
In light of this prevailing agricultural concentration,
when it comes to gender proportions, women clearly
predominate in the agricultural sector; covering a 55
percent of agricultural workers. Then again, women
workers in the non-agricultural industries, instead find
jobs in trade and public administration. Nevertheless,
manufacturing is an equally important employing sector
for women. Generally speaking, there is limited
employment of women in skill-based industries, and as
a result constrains women’s earning potential.
In contrast, when it comes to male dominance within
Uganda’s industries, they to some extent make a higher
contribution to GDP; relatively coming from the
following sectors: Manufacturing, finance, construction,
and transport. To comprehend whether these sectors
have the best paid workers will depend on the sector’s
capital intensity and the distribution of wages.
Putting aside the gender distribution topic, in the case
of other industries, the mining industry is considered a
limited sector in Uganda. In the case of the public
administration and service sector, both illustrate a high
employment rate; yet pose a low GDP share of 31
percent.
Unlike most of it East-African neighbours, the sectorial
shift away from agriculture is less significant. The
industry sector has only slightly increased the GDP
share in comparison with the service and agricultural
sectors.
Figure 6: Sector Share in Uganda51, 2000-2013, % of GDP
60
50
40
30
20
The labour market in Uganda has a low rate of wage
and salaried workers, but it has experienced a slow
increase from 14 percent in 2002 to 20 percent in
2013, while own-account workers and family workers
have been on somewhat slight declining trends (Figure
7). This is most likely related to the just mentioned low
increasing industry sector.
Figure 7: Status of employment in Uganda52, 2002-2013,
%
70%
60%
50%
59%
54%
52%
51%
40%
30%
32%
26%
29%
27%
24%
20%
20%
18%
14%
15%
0.3%
0.3%
10%
0%
2002
2003
1.3%
0.5%
2005
2009
2013
Wage & salaried workers (employees)
Employers
Own-account workers
Contributing family workers
Informal Economy
Around 59 percent of Uganda’s workforce operates in
the informal economy (Table 13), according to ILO
statistics.53 As with many other Sub-Saharan African
countries, the informal ‘sector’ provides the vast majority
of employment. Most new jobs are created in this
‘sector’, crowding out jobs in the formal sector. As
already mentioned, it also absorbs many of the youth,
while unemployment is not an option. The informal
economy is lower than many others in the Sub-Saharan
Africa, and the lowest in the East African Community.
Table 13: Employment in the informal economy in
Uganda54, 2010, %
Share of persons in informal
employment in total nonUganda (2010)
69 %
agricultural employment
Share of persons employed in Uganda (2010)
59 %
the informal sector in total
non-agricultural employment
SSA (2001)
78 %
Share of persons in informal
employment outside the
Uganda (2010)
14 %
informal sector
10
0
Agriculture
Uganda 2015
Industry
Services
The 2009/10 Ugandan National Household Budget
Survey55 found 3.5 million engaged in informal 'sector'
work and 2.1 million in non-agricultural, which is a drop
at 19% points since the survey from 2002/03. The
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survey also showed that 13% of informal sector
workers are paid employees, 23% are unpaid helpers
and 63% are working proprietors (mainly subsistence
farmers). It is also noteworthy to mention that paid
employees have been on an increase in this period.
Figure 8: Employment by Activity Status in Uganda56
(2002/03 - 2009/10), %
80%
70%
69%
Figure 10: Distribution of Informal Businesses by Industry58
(2009-2010), %
30%
27%
25%
20%
24%
15%
15%
14%
9%
10%
7%
3%
5%
64%
1%
1%
0%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
22%
9%
Working
Proprietors
Paid Employees
2002/03
23%
13%
Unpaid Helpers
2009/10
Figure 9 shows that women are slightly more in informal
non-agricultural employment than men with 71 percent
and 64 percent, respectively. There is a notable
exception of agriculture, though, favouring men. The
informal businesses are mostly present in the
agricultural and trade sectors then followed by food
processing and manufacturing.
Figure 9: Distribution of employees engaged in the
informal economy in Uganda57, 2009-2010
Industry and Gender, %
Male
Female
60%
40%
The National Alliance of Informal Economy Workers
Organization is a member based organization for the
poor working for informal sector rights. This
organization was formed in 2004 and is affiliate by
COFTU.59
Migration
Uganda experiences migration in various forms:
internally (rural-urban) and some internally displaced
persons; as well as internationally. Regarding the latter,
the country receives almost double remittances as share
of GDP than the Sub-Saharan Africa's average. This is
also explained by the higher net migration rate that
was reflected by 1 out of 1,134 Ugandans migrated
out of the country per year, more than double relative
to the region. An impact has been brain-drain, e.g.
many physicians and other health care workers migrate
to developed countries, leading to a shortage of skilled
workers in this sector.
20%
Table 14: Migration Facts60
0%
Overall is ownership of businesses in Uganda
dominated by very small enterprises. According to the
mentioned 2009/10 survey, 94% of enterprises with
legal ownership have been registered as sole
proprietorship while only 5% are owned as partnership.
There is a challenge of the taxation of such informal
small-size micro-enterprises and the self-employment
workers. Such enterprises are under severe liquidity
pressure just as the system is weak due to cumbersome
manual process operated by the Revenue Authorities
and/or very insufficient awareness of the regulations.
Uganda 2015
Net migration
(2008-2012)
Uganda
- 150,000
Net migration to
average population
per year (2008-2012)
Uganda
- 1 : 1,134
inhabitants
Sub-Saharan
Africa
- 1 : 2,838
inhabitants
Personal transfers i.e.
remittances received,
% of GDP (2012)
Uganda
3.7 %
Sub-Saharan
Africa
2.0 %
Note: Net migration is the net total of migrants during the period, i.e.
the total number of immigrants less the annual number of emigrants,
including both citizens and noncitizens.
There has been some improvements in recruitment and
support services in labour migration issues in Uganda.
Notwithstanding, based on a recent Labour Migration
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Labour Market Profile 2015
Management Assessment, several problems are present:
i) high costs for migrant workers; ii) incomplete
supervision of recruitment agencies; iii) inadequate predeparture orientation; and iv) absence of return and
reintegration measures.61
Trade unions in Uganda have only done limited on the
plight of migrant workers. However, they step in to talk
for them when they happen to learn that their rights are
violated. The policies addressing internal displaced
persons are vague, though.62
Uganda and Kenya concluded in 2013 a bilateral
agreement to waive the work permit fees to allow for
free movement of labour between the two countries.
Moreover, the EAC commits Uganda to adopt measures
to facilitate the free movement of persons and labour
from the other five member states. In 2014 Uganda
pleaded to abolish work permit fees for all EAC
Citizens, to follow Rwanda and Kenya.
Child Labour
Children aged less than 18 years account for 58% of
the total population. The first comprehensive national
survey on child labor in Uganda from 2011/12 shows
that close to two out of five (39%) children are in
employment involved in economic activity and 16
percent are child labourers.
Table 15: Working children Proportion of all children in age
group
Region
Year
201063
Uganda
(age 5-17)
2011/1264
SSA65
(age 5-17)
2008
Type
Proportion
Children in
employment
51 %
Child labourers
25 %
Children in
employment *)
39 %
Child labourers
16 %
Hazardous work
Children in
employment
25 %
Child labourers
25 %
Hazardous work
13 %
28 %
Children in employment includes all children who conducts some
kind of work or are involved in economic activity, whereas child
labourers is a narrower term without mild forms of work.
Hazardous work is the worst from of child labour as defined in
ILO C182.
*) Children in employment in age group 6-17 years old.
SSA's average, while child labourers is now lower,
which could also be related to Uganda's more updated
data than the SSA's average (see table).
Children's work is mainly in the agriculture sector which
accounts for about 93% of the total child workers. This
sector is known of the worst forms of child labor. The
Kampala district, which is wholly urban, has the highest
percentage of child workers engaged in the service
industry at 79%. Working children put in an average of
19 hours of work per week in economic activities. 66
The Government approved and launched the National
Action Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labor (2012/13-2016/17) (NAP). Gaps in the
legal framework persist, such as between compulsory
education and minimum working ages.67
Gender
Reductions of gender disparities have witness most of
the progress, particularly in areas of education and
health; unlike access to economic opportunities which
continues to sustain disparities. Women are still getting
married at an early and young age. Nevertheless,
trends in age-at-first marriage have somewhat changed
since 1995. This changed can be partly due to the
implementation of universal primary education.
However, problems still exist. For instance, a majority of
girls are still out of school due to pregnancy.
Uganda illustrates just slight gaps in terms of gender
employment rates. Women have a higher employment
ratio in agriculture than men in total employment at 82
percent and 69 percent, respectively. However, the
divergent land tenure system and overlapping land
rights are affecting women, e.g. many women landless
farmers cannot easily access land.68
Astoundingly around 42 percent of women in the labour
force are often unpaid family workers, i.e. receiving no
income despite contributing the largest proportion of
the agricultural labour. For every unpaid male worker,
there are 3 women workers in the same category. On
the other hand, women obtaining better-paid jobs on
commercial farms and women working on agricultural
estates are frequently the pickers and packers, but who
very rarely attain management positions.69
Based on roughly comparisons from a household survey
from 2010, both working children and child labourers
were declining. This is related to the increasing school
enrolment trends. The former remains higher than the
Uganda 2015
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Figure 11: Location of unpaid workers in Uganda70 (2008)
region & gender, %
80%
Table 16: Ugandan youth population by main economic
activity (2013) and youth participation rate trend, 1991201375 , %
60%
70%
66
55%
65
60%
50%
50%
64
41%
40%
40%
63
62
30%
61
30%
20%
60
10%
20%
Uganda
Central Western Eastern
Men Women
Northern
59
58
7%
10%
57
56
0%
ILO’s Decent Work Country Programme for Uganda has
emphasized a need for increased gender equity in
trade union membership and leadership levels. It is thus
noteworthy that affiliated membership through NOTU
recently reached an overall equality of 32 elected
positions, i.e. 17 were females (53%) and 15 were men
(47%).71
NOTU is collaborating with the Trade Union
Confederation for the East African Community (EATUC)
to promote gender equality, both within the labour
movement and in Uganda.72
Youth
It is estimated that Uganda has 78 percent of its
population below the ages of 30 years old, thus,
making it one of the world’s youngest population. A
majority of youth employment exists in the agricultural
sector. Less than 5 percent of those are in wage-paying
jobs and the majority is engaged as subsistence family
workers with no wages accruing to them. Similarly,
informal employment accounts for the highest
proportion of employed youths outside agriculture.
During the last decade, the youth participation on the
labour market has been on a decline reaching 59
percent in 2013 (Table 16).
As previously mentioned youth unemployment has been
low, but on a more 'relaxed' version it has been
estimated at 10 percent.73 The youth unemployment is
frequently related to the lack of employable skills and
access to resources like land and capital. The
government has put in place a program to reduce
unemployment, especially among the youth which
includes the recent Youth Livelihood Program.74
Employed
Unemployed
Inactive
There has been noted that young people frequently
have a negative attitude towards certain types of work,
which has also contributed to their inability to find
gainful employment. Besides, existing policies also
continue focusing on creating job seekers instead of job
creators.76
EDUCATION
The population in Uganda have an average of 4.7
years of schooling. Very few have completed
secondary school or university. The graph below shows
the educational attainment of all Ugandans above 25
years, therefore gives a glance of the human capital of
the labour force. Women in general have less education
than men, especially with more women who have had
no schooling.
Table 17: Highest level attained and years of schooling in
the population77 (2010)
Population 25+, Total and Women
Highest Level Attained
Total
Female
24.3 %
33.2 %
Begun
36.3 %
36.9 %
Completed
24.5 %
20.8 %
Begun
7.8 %
4.2 %
Completed
3.1 %
1.7 %
Begun
1.5 %
1.2 %
Completed
2.5 %
2.0 %
4.7 years
3.8 years
No Schooling
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Average year of total schooling
Uganda 2015
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
0%
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Gross Enrolment in Secondary School
45
Total
Uganda,
Female
enrolment
40
35
Uganda, Total
enrolment
30
Female
25
SSA, Female
enrolment
20
60%
80%
Primary - Begun
Secondary - Begun
Tertiary - Begun
100%
15
Primary, secondary and tertiary is the internationally defined
distinction of education. In Denmark these corresponds to
grundskole, gymnasium & university.
The government has implemented free Universal
Primary Education since 1997. It signals the high gross
enrolment rates in Uganda (see graph below). The
primary enrolment rates are extremely high, with the
prevalence of child labour in Uganda in mind. They do
only record enrolment, and primary school attendance
is around 82%. The large number of children enrolled in
primary education did decrease the quality of
education, as resources and teachers did not grow as
fast as enrolment.78 Other data gives net primary
school enrolment from 2008-12 at 93% for boys and
95% for girls. Compare that to around 78% for SubSaharan Africa.78 This indicates that Uganda has a high
primary school enrolment.
Secondary and tertiary educations have lower gross
enrolment rates than the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Figure 12: School levels and Enrolment (%) (2000-2012)79
Total and Women, Uganda & Sub-Sahara Africa
Gross Enrolment in Primary School
140
Uganda,
Female
enrolment
130
120
110
Gross Enrolment in Tertiary School
10
Uganda,
Female
enrolment
9
8
7
Uganda, Total
enrolment
6
5
4
SSA, Female
enrolment
3
2
1
SSA, Total
enrolment
0
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Net enrolment is the ratio of children of official school age, who are
enrolled in school to the population of the corresponding official school
age. Gross enrolment is the ratio of total enrolment, regardless of age,
to the population of the corresponding official school age. Gross
enrolment can therefore be higher than 100%, but with tertiary or
university education, the age of the pupils is more diverse.
Vocational training
It is estimated that a low percentage of pupils in
vocational training exists in Uganda which poses a
lower ratio in terms of pupils in secondary school
compared to the rest of Sub-Sahara’s average.
Table 18: Vocational Training80 (2010)
Uganda, Total
enrolment
Pupils in vocational training
SSA, Female
enrolment
Vocational pupils (% women)
Uganda
39,250
Uganda
30 %
SSA
39 %
Ratio of pupils in vocational student to
all pupils in secondary education
(Average 2008-2010)
Uganda
3.5 %
SSA
6.2 %
Ratio of pupils in vocational training
out of 15-24 year olds
(Average 2008-2010)
Uganda
0.6 %
SSA
1.6 %
100
90
80
70
SSA, Total
enrolment
60
SSA, Total
enrolment
10
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
0%
20%
40%
No Schooling
Primary - Completed
Secondary - Completed
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Based in the available data, the ratio’s declining trend
is related to a decrease of pupils in vocational training
as well as the relatively higher enrolment in secondary
Uganda 2015
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education (Figure 13). Around 1 out of 3 (30%) pupils
in vocational training are women, which is lower that the
Sub-Saharan Africa’s average of 39 percent.
Figure 13: Vocational training trends81 (2000-2010)
Ratios (%) and pupils in vocational training
50%
60000
45%
44%
50000
40%
35%
30%
30% 30% 30%
33% 33% 32%
35%
30%
The National Employment Policy targets on three
objectives in terms of the challenges of vocational
training are: i) matching supply to demand for skills, ii)
helping workers and enterprises adjust to change, and
iii) forecasting as well as delivering the new wider skills
that will be needed in the future.85 Based on funding
from World Bank, Uganda is currently running a
program named “skilling Uganda” aiming at
streamlining skills development initiatives and efforts by
bringing all stakeholders together.
40000
30% 30%
25%
30000
20%
20000
15%
10%
10000
5%
0%
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Ratio of pupils in vocational training vs. secondary education (%) - Uganda
Vocational pupils (% female) - Uganda
Ratio of pupils in vocational training vs secondary pupils (%) - SSA
Pupils in vocational training - Uganda
Most programs are being pre-employment, supplydriven and targeting towards modern sector needs.
Post-school vocational and skill training is ineffective.
Moreover, most skill and vocational training does not
follow more efficient in-employment models.82
The Business, Technical, Vocational Education and
Training (BTVET) Act from 2008 was put in place to
address the redundancy of the different institutions for
vocational training. It also includes unemployment that
was resultant from the scholar-oriented education
system that provided minimal or no practical skills for
students. Whereas it has led to the equitable
distribution of vocational and skills training centers, it
has been noted that the sector still falls short on several
aspects: i) Government funding to this sector is very
minimal; ii) an absence of sufficient training and
practice facilities/equipment makes it extremely hard
for the students to attain the best form of training and
experience required; and iii) the purchase of the
equipment to facilitate the work in the sector is very
expensive and cannot be secured by the people
pursuing this training.83
It is estimated that 35 percent of firms are offering
formal training programs for their permanent, full-time
employees.84 However, few wage workers have
permanent employment status and even and fewer
benefit from programs of in-employment training
provided by their employers.
The Skilling Uganda program is expected to be turned
into an authority for skills development. NOTU is
represented on the Board and advocate for Skilling
Uganda to address the lack of technical skills. It has a
focus on university education by bringing on board
vocational training, educating people to be selfemployed and increasing skills in informal economy as
there is lack of jobs in the formal sector. There are
vocational training centres in every district (offering two
years education programs).
Based on the Government’s estimations, 20 percent of
the spaces for vocational training are reserved to
children withdrawn from child labour.86
NOTU is lobbying government to include vocational
training into the new employment policy.
SOCIAL PROTECTION
Uganda lags behind when it comes to social security
compared to its East African neighbours. It is estimated
that 1.2 percent of GDP are considered an expenditure
of public social protection (this excludes health). The
trend of public expenditure of health has increased at
12 percent in the period 2007-2011, but the health
social coverage of population remains low at 2.3
percent (Table 19).
Table 19: Public spending on social protection schemes in
Uganda87, 2011
Public social protection
expenditure, excl. health
Public health care
Uganda 2015
Ugandan Shilling
546 billion
US$
217 million
% of GDP
1,2 %
per capita
6.2 US$
% of government
expenditure
11.6 %
% of GDP
2.3 %
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Health social protection
coverage
Trends in government
expenditure in health
% of population
2.0 %
% changes per
year (2007-2011)
12 %
Figure 14: Total health-care expenditure not financed by
private household’s out-of-pocket payments, 1995-2011
%
90%
Less than one out of ten (6.6%) elderly receive an old
age pension as well as less than 3.8 percent in the
working age is active contributors to a pension scheme.
NOTU preparing a proposal to a new pension Bill after
having de-tabled the pension liberalization bill in 2014.
80%
Table 20: Benefits, coverage and contributions to pension
schemes in Uganda88, 2007-2012
40%
Social benefits for the active age
% of GDP
0.4 %
Pensionable age receiving an old
age pension (age 55+)
Proportion of
total
6.6 %
Active contributors to a pension
scheme
15-64 years
3.8 %
Pensionable age receiving an old
age pension (Africa)
Proportion of
total
22 %
According to the ILO, the social security schemes that
are contributory and/or compulsory consist of social
insurance for formal workers. These are known as the
National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the Public
Service Pension Schemes (PSPS) that target all public
servants. Other smaller schemes are present. Overall,
social insurance schemes cover less than 10% of the
working population. The current social security schemes
in Uganda exclude employees from the informal
sector.89 However, there have been some plans to
introduce a nationwide Social Health Insurance scheme
(SHI), which would also cover informal sector workers.91
In terms of total health-care expenditure not financed
by private household’s out-of-pocket payments,
Uganda has the lowest measurement at 52 percent in
comparison with the neighbouring East Africa countries.
The trend has slowly increased and getting close to
Kenya’s rate that was estimated at 54 percent (Figure
14).
70%
60%
50%
1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Burundi
Kenya
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
Microfinance insurance schemes are an option for
informal sector workers, they are privately run through
either micro-finance institutions or health care providers,
and delivers mainly accident and health insurance. So
far they have achieved little coverage.90
The NSSF is a main contributory social protection
scheme for old-age pension, disability, survivors and
work injury, for workers employed in the formal sector,
excluding self-employed. The scheme is mandatory for
firms with more than five employees, and voluntary for
smaller firms. Apart from work injury, 5 percent of
salary is paid by the employee and 10 percent by
employer. The NSSF was reformed in 2010 to increase
coverage, contribution and reduce administration costs.
As of June 2011, NSSF had a membership of
equivalent at 1.3% of the population. It is therefore a
very limited coverage.91
A very controversial draft Retirement Benefits Sector
Liberalisation Bill 2011 had been presented to the
Parliament. It entailed a number of reforms, which had
some criticised loopholes. The trade union movement
presented position papers outlining the negative impact
on workers position of the proposed social security
liberalization. Through lobby and advocacy the trade
unions succeeded to have the proposed pension
liberalization bill detailed and was given the chance to
come up with a draft alternative Pension Reform Act to
amend the NSSF bill (Modernization of NSSF, inclusion
of informal sector, increase number of benefits from 3
to 9 etc). However, during the parliamentary session in
October 2014, it was decided to withdraw the Social
Security Liberalization bill till until further notice.
The Expanding Social Protection Program’s (ESP)
purpose is to embed a national social protection system
that benefits the poorest people among the population.
Among others, there are implemented two pilot
Uganda 2015
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schemes: i) The Senior Citizens Grants and the
Vulnerable Family Grants. Under the Senior Citizens
Grants, older persons 65 years of age and above (but
60 years in the case of Karamoja region) receive
23,000 shillings (US$8) per month; and ii) the
Vulnerable Family Grants are paid out to households
with low labour capacity owing to age, physical
disability. These schemes are currently being piloted in
14 districts in the country.92
98
Table 22: GDP real growth
2000-2014, Uganda and the Sub-Saharan Africa, %
12
10
8
6
4
2
Uganda 2015
Uganda
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
2008
The average annual GDP growth rate has been high at
6.9 percent between 2005 and 2014 and hoovering
above the Sub-Saharan Africa’s average (Table 22).
This has been mainly driven by public investment,
agricultural output, and a more favorable
manufacturing environment. Oil investments and large
infrastructure program boosting construction activities
have also been important. The agricultural sector is
unlikely to achieve high rates of growth due to supplyside constraints, such as limited use of improved inputs,
lack of irrigation systems and low levels of
mechanization.97
Figure 15: GDP per capita (PPP), trend and forecast, 20022018, Current US$
2007
Doing
Business95
(2016)
2006
GDP
real
growth
2005
Human
Gini Index
Development
(2013)
96
Index
0.483
39.5
26.1
122 of 189
billion
4.8 %
163
of
188
65
of 144
countries
US$
countries
countries
A high Doing Business ranking means the regulatory environment is
more conducive to the start-up and operation of a local firm.
The Human Development Index (HDI) measures the average of a long
and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of
living.
The Gini Index ranking the first country as the highest inequality, while
the number 141 has the highest equality.
GDP
2004
Table 21: General Economic Performance Key Facts94
2014 (est.)
Sub-Saharan Africa
Uganda remains a very poor country with a GDP per
capita at US$1,500 (positioned low as 206 out of 230
countries99) and growing slower than the rest of the
Sub-Saharan Africa’s average (Figure 15). Thus,
Uganda is far from the middle-income status it aspires
to achieve in one generation and the absolute number
of poor has decreased relatively little due to high
population growth with Uganda’s population doubling
since 1990.
2003
The National Resistance Movement (NRM), which has
been the governing party since 1986, has maintained a
policy of liberalization, private sector and export led
growth.93 In recent years condemned laws, military
intervention in South Sudan, and corruption cases made
donors withdrew budget support.
Uganda
2002
GENERAL ECONOMIC
PERFORMANCE
0
Sub-Saharan Africa
However, the country has gone through a fast reduction
of working poor and has reached lower rates than the
Sub-Saharan Africa’s average. In recent years the
decline has stalled, though. Currently, Uganda’s working
poor with less than US$1.25 per day were estimated at
30 percent of workers in employment and those with
less than US$2 per day at 58 percent. In contrast, the
Sub-Saharan Africa’s average on working poor has
been estimated with 40 percent and 63 percent,
respectively.
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Figure 16: Working poor (1992-2012), Share of workers in
total employment, %
100
of the consumption price inflation which returned to onedigit level around 5 percent per year.
Figure 18: Inflation trend and forecast101 (2002-2018), %
20%
80
18%
16%
60
14%
12%
10%
40
8%
6%
20
4%
2%
0
This reduction of working poor has also created an
evolution of middle-classes. Again, Uganda is increasing
higher in terms of the lower middle-class compared to
Sub-Saharan Africa’s average and also with a slightly
higher growth with the higher middle-class segment.
Regarding Uganda’s higher middle.-class the segment
remains slightly lower that the Sub-Saharan Africa’s
average (Figure 17).
Uganda
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
Sub-Saharan Africa
The capital formation reached 24 percent of GDP in
2013, and is higher than the Sub-Sahara Africa’s
average (Figure 18). The process of capital formation
has increasingly been led by the private sector. The
labour markets deficiencies - e.g. the high skills
mismatched incidence of under-education - relative to
equipment have constrained the impact of the labour
productivity.
Figure 17: Middle-class in Uganda & the Sub-Saharan
Africa's (SSA) average (1999-2012), %
30%
2009
Uganda - US$2 a day
SSA - US$2 a day
2008
2012
2007
2009
2006
Uganda - US$1.25 a day
SSA - US$1.25 a day
2005
2005
2002
2004
1999
2003
1996
2002
0%
1992
Figure 19: Gross Fixed Capital Formation (2000-2013),
% of GDP
30
25%
25
20%
20
15%
15
10%
10
5%
5
0%
1999
2002
2005
2008/09
2011/12
Uganda - Middle class US$2-4
Uganda - Middle class US$4-20
SSA - Middle class US$2-4
SSA - Middle class US$4-20
The rank of Uganda’s Human Development Index is in a
very low category – positioning the country at 163 out
of 188 countries and territories. There has been a
negative ranking change in the period 2009-2014,
dropping down two steps. This is related to stalled
progress, in some cases reversed in the areas of
education, health and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. 100
The inflation of consumption prices peaked at 19
percent in 2011 due to monetary expansion and
growth in the private sector, rising oil prices and food
prices. Since then, there has been a deceleration trend
Uganda 2015
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Uganda
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)
In 2015-2016 the Doing Business ranked Uganda at
122 out of 189 countries - an improving step-up of 13
levels from the previous period 2014-2015. This was
mainly related to significant improvements of getting
credit. Enforcing contracts as well as protecting minority
investors score on a more medium level. In contrast,
Uganda scores quite low on starting a business, getting
electricity, and dealing with construction permits (Table
23).
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Table 23: Uganda’s Ease of Doing Business102
TRADE
Topics
2016
2015 Change
Starting a Business
168
168
Dealing with Construction Permits
161
166
5
Getting Electricity
167
172
5
Registering Property
120
118
-2
Getting Credit
42
128
86
Protecting Miniority Investors
99
98
-1
Table 25: Trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)106
2014 (est.)
Paying Taxes
105
101
-4
Exports
Imports
Trading Across Borders
128
126
-2
Enforcing Contracts
78
78
2.6
billion US$
4.7
billion US$
FDI flow107
(average 200913)
936
million US$
Resolving Insolvency
104
106
10 % of GDP
18 % of GDP
3.6% of GDP
No change
No change
2
Doing Business 2014 indicators are ranking from 1 (top) to 189
(bottom) among other countries. The rankings tell much about the
business environment, but do not measure all aspects of the business
surroundings that matter to firms and investors or that affects the
competitiveness of the economy. Still, a high ranking does mean that the
government has created a regulatory environment conducive to
operating a business.
Note: This Index has been controversial due to flawed data, especially
in terms of labour market flexibility and undervalued paying taxes.
However, the table below can still be used as indicative measurement
with reservations.103
Overall the governance environment in Uganda has
been with some mixed results in the period 2008-2013.
First of all, there is a lower medium-level of regulatory
quality and rule of law. The former marginally increase
while the latter declined. The country has been
struggling with political stability but there has been
registered some small improvements; and control of
corruption is scoring very low and weakened
significantly (see table below).
The Public Order Management Act that was signed into
law in October 2013 has been criticized in the media
as seriously flawed with restrictions of freedoms of
expression and peaceful assembly; and further
deteriorates an already shrinking space for civil society
and human rights defenders in the country.
Most of Uganda’s exports are in agricultural products.
The product share of export's graph shows that
products are relatively diverse, with a notable share of
coffee (17%). There a more import than export in terms
of the trade balance. This is likely due to reduction of
duties and quotas pursued by Uganda.
Voice and
Political
Government
Accountability
Stability
Effectiveness
-0.50 /
-0.91 /
-0.57 /
2008
33%
17%
35%
-0.55 /
-0.84 /
-0.58 /
2013
31%
20%
33%
Regulatory
Control of
Year
Rule of Law
Quality
Corruption
-0.22 /
-0.38 /
-0.83 /
2008
47%
42%
21%
-0.24 /
-0.36 /
-1.05 /
2013
45%
44%
14%
Note: The Governance Indicators score from ‐2.5 to 2.5 while the
percentiles rank from 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest).105
Uganda 2015
8.8
billion US$
34% of
GDP
Uganda’s main export market is the European Union
(EU) as well as a lot to its neighbours and the countries
in the East African Community (EAC).
Uganda is landlocked and transport costs can make up
50%-75% of the retail price of products in Uganda,
which is a significant hindrance on trade.108 For the
same reason, Uganda together with Kenya and
Rwanda formed the so-called “Coalition of the Willing”
within the EAC for fast-tracking the regional integration.
Among other things the three countries have agreed on
major infrastructure projects including the Northern
Corridor Project (High Gauge railway) from the port of
Mombassa to Uganda and Rwanda.
Figure 20: Uganda's main products share of exports,
2012109
Others;
55%
Coffee;
17%
Broadcasti
ng
Equipment
; 5%
Refined
Petroleum;
5%
Cement;
Fish 4%
Fillets;
Table 24: Uganda' Governance Indicators104, 2008-2013
Year
FDI Stock
(2013)
Raw
Sugar; 3%
4% Raw
Tobacco;
Tea; 3%
4%
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Figure 21: Uganda's main export markets, 2013110
Others;
28%
EU; 28%
China;
4%
U.A.
Emirates;
11%
Kenya;
9%
Congo,
DRC; 9%
Rwanda;
10%
Trade Agreements
Uganda is part of the EAC's free trade agreement from
1999 contains a labour provision with cooperation on
employment and working conditions. Likewise, the
labour provision of the Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA) agreement extends to
cooperation on employment conditions and labour
law.111Uganda is also part of the 2000 Cotonou
Agreement between EU and African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) countries, which reaffirms commitment to
ILO’s Fundamental Conventions and includes a labour
provision on cooperation on various labour and social
issues.
In 2005, the members of the EAC established a customs
union and in 2010 the EAC agreed to establish full
common market with free movement for workers, goods,
services, and capital.
Freedom of association and collective bargaining is
enshrined in the EAC common market in the sense that
an EAC migrant worker has equal rights as a
national.112The free movement of labour within the EAC
opens up questions of how to achieve equal
opportunities and equal social and labour rights for
migrant workers, for example if workers can bring
pensions with them across borders. On the other hand,
the free movement of labour is also a source of concern
in some of the EAC countries, as the countries workforces
have differences in productivity and educational level.
However, the actual implementation of the economic
integration have slowed down the last few years,
especially with regards to lifting barriers to trade and
free movement of labour. Although formal tariffs are
increasing abolished, trade is still challenged by nontariff barriers and corruption.
Uganda 2015
The objective of the East African trade union movement
is to safeguard workers’ interests in the EAC, ensure that
ILO standards are upheld and member states’ labour
policies are harmonized and the tripartite model is
institutionalized, while the free movement of labour is
promoted. The trade union movement has reached
observer status in the EAC in 2009, and along with
employers’ organizations they participate in ministerial
summits, sectoral summits, and other summits that involve
labour market issues. However, the Social Agenda is
moving slow in the EAC and no meetings have been
convened in the Council of Ministers responsible for
labour for the last 3-4 years.
Through the EAC, Uganda can export duty and quota
free to the European Union (EU) since 2008, and will
have to gradually remove duties and quotas from EU
exports to Uganda on most products, except the
products deemed to need protection from EU imports.
These include agricultural products, wines and spirits,
chemicals, plastics, wood based paper, textiles and
clothing.
Since 2000, Uganda has benefitted from the United
States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA),
which is a Generalised System of Preferences. It allows
duty and quota free access for some products. Despite
policy pronouncements, it has never managed to
establish an apparel industry on the back of AGOA.
Exports of these products to the U.S., which in 2003
amounted to US$1.6 million, have been on the decline
since then, reaching only US$143,000 in 2012. The
main reasons put forward for Uganda’s failure to take
advantage of AGOA provisions for the apparel sector
are high transportation and logistical costs, the absence
of an effective policy framework, weak government
commitment, lack of industry specific government
support and the limited availability of quality raw
materials.113
Export Processing Zones (EPZ)
In Uganda there were long-standing interests in
establishing export processing zones in Uganda. The
progress was somewhat delayed by lack of clarity
despite the drafting of a Special Economic Zones (SEZ)
Bill in 2002. The Free Zone Act was finally approved in
2014. In addition, a shortage of serviced industrial land
created constraints for the expansion of the
manufacturing sector in general and exports in
particular. For example, established locations within
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Kampala are fully occupied and have little space for
expansion.
There have been many investors in domestic
manufacturing enterprises that are expanding
production and storage/distribution facilities and
positioning themselves to supply the regional export
market. Thus, several EPZs mainly exports textile and
garments under the AGOA. There has also been
registered interest by large agro-processing
conglomerate and a steel reversing mill.
According to Solidarity Center,114 Kenyan women were
recruited to fill the low-wage jobs at the EPZs and
many of these were exploited or trafficked for forced
labour. Known as “Agoa girls” they are vulnerable due
to lack of labour regulation and protection for migrants.
Uganda 2015
The impact of globalization on workers includes
feminisation of labour in the EPZs, homework and
contract labour (i.e AGOA girls).
The Government signed in February 2014 a deal with
ASB Group, a Turkish company, to establish a US$300
million special economic zone for beef production in
Nakaseke district.115
A recent survey showed that over 92 percent of
investors in Uganda currently enjoying tax incentives
would have invested their capital even without these
incentives.116
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APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL DATA
Table 26: Ratified ILO Conventions117
Subject and/or right
Convention
Ratification date
Fundamental Conventions
Freedom of association
and collective
bargaining
Elimination of all forms
of forced labour
C087 - Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, 1948
2005
C098 - Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949
1963
C029 - Forced Labour Convention, 1930
1963
C105 - Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957
1963
Effective abolition of
child labour
C138 - Minimum Age Convention, 1973
2003
C182 - Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999
2001
Elimination of discrimination in employment
C100 - Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951
C111 - Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958
2005
2005
Governance Conventions
Labour inspection
C081 - Labour Inspection Convention, 1947
C129 - Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969
1963
Not ratified
Employment policy
C122 - Employment Policy Convention, 1964
1967
Tripartism
C144 - Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976
1994
C094 - Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949
1963
C095 - Protection of Wages Convention, 1949
1963
Young persons
C124 - Medical Examination of Young Persons (Underground Work), 1965
1967
Migrant workers
C143 - Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975
1978
Industrial relations
C154 - Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981
1990
Up-to-date Conventions
Wages
Employment Policy
C159 - Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (disabled persons), 1983
1990
Occupational Safety and
C162 - Asbestos Convention, 1986
1990
Health
Fundamental Conventions are the eight most important ILO conventions that cover four fundamental principles and rights at work.
Equivalent to basic human rights at work.
Governance Conventions are four conventions that the ILO has designated as important to building national institutions and capacities
that serve to promote employment. In other words, conventions that promotes a well-regulated and well-functioning labour market.
In addition, there are 71 conventions, which ILO considers “up-to-date" and actively promotes.
Uganda 2015
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Danish Trade Council for International Development and Cooperation
Labour Market Profile 2015
Table 27: Trade Unions in Uganda118
Affiliation
To national
trade union
centre
Total
Members
(2014)
Dues
No. of
CBAs
ATGWU Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union
NOTU
3,300
2% Salary
8
Uganda Beverage Tobacco and Allied Workers Union
Uganda Building Construction, Civil Engineering, Cement &
Allied Workers’ Union
UGAWU Uganda Government and Allied Workers’ Union
National Union of Clerical, Commercial, Professional and
Technical Employees
National Union of Education Institutions
NOTU
3,962
2% Salary
6
NOTU
4,540
2% salary
6
NOTU
5,300
2% salary
1
NOTU
946
2% Salary
3
NOTU
6,400
3% salary
3
Uganda Mines, Metal Oil, Gas and Allied Workers′ Union
NOTU
1,043
2% Salary
5
NUPAWU National Union of Plantation and Agricultural Work
NOTU
92,675
2% Salary
12
Uganda Communication Employees Union
NOTU
221
2% Salary
3
Uganda Public Employees Union
NOTU
5,011
2% Salary
-
Uganda Electricity and Allied Workers′ Union.
NOTU
905
2% Salary
4
Uganda Railways Workers Union
NOTU
438
2% Salary
1
Uganda Hospitality Leisure and Allied Workers Union.
National Union of Theatrical, Theatrical Domestic and General
Workers
UNATU Uganda National Teachers' Union *)
NOTU
32
2% Salary
2
NOTU
3,000
2% salary
4
NOTU
160,000
1% Salary
1
Uganda Fisheries and Allied Workers Union
NOTU
1,500
2% Salary
-
Uganda Media Union
NOTU
313
2% Salary
Uganda Horticultural, Industrial, Service Providers and Allied
Workers Union
NOTU
7,873
3% Salary
Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union
NOTU
2,000
2% salary
1
general
CBA
-
National Union of Co-operative Movement Workers
NOTU
3,545
2% Salary
-
Uganda Journalists Union
COFTU
-
-
-
Uganda Markets & Allied Employees Union
COFTU
-
-
-
Uganda Chemical, Petroleum & Allied Workers Union
COFTU
-
-
-
Uganda Private Teachers Union
COFTU
-
-
-
Uganda Brewery, Bottling, Distillers and Allied Workers Union
COFTU
-
-
-
National Union of Drivers Cyclist & Allied Union Workers
COFTU
-
-
-
University Professionals and Academic Staff Union
National Union of Micro Finance Savings & Credit Organization
Workers
National Union of Local Government Workers
COFTU
-
-
-
COFTU
-
-
-
COFTU
-
-
-
Agro Based Workers Union
COFTU
-
-
-
Uganda Artisan & Allied Workers Union
COFTU
-
-
-
Uganda Courier and telecom Union
The National Alliance of Informal Economy Workers
Organization
Independent Unions
COFTU
-
-
-
COFTU
-
-
-
Uganda Printers, Polyfibre and Allied Workers Union **
Not Affiliated
1,329
-
-
Uganda Civil Society Organizations Workers’ Union **
Not Affiliated
1,214
-
-
Trade Union
Unions Affiliated to NOTU
Unions Affiliated to COFTU
Uganda 2015
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Danish Trade Council for International Development and Cooperation
Labour Market Profile 2015
Uganda Parastatals, Statutory Authority and Judicial Workers’
Union **
National Union of Infrastructural, Civil Works and Wood
Workers **
Uganda Scientist, Researchers and Allied Workers Union **
Not Affiliated
680
-
-
Not Affiliated
2,929
-
-
Not Affiliated
510
-
-
Uganda Hotels, Food, Tourism and Allied Workers Union **
Not Affiliated
50,000
-
-
Uganda Textile Lather and Allied Workers’ Union **
Not Affiliated
-
-
-
Kampala Metropolitan Boda-Boda Association
Not Affiliated
64,000
-
-
Namabitabodaboda association
Not Affiliated
-
-
-
Seetabodaboda association
Not Affiliated
-
-
-
AbaitaAbariki pick up and lorries association
Not Affiliated
-
-
-
Malaba taxi drivers association
Not Affiliated
-
-
-
Sources: NOTU and LO/FTF Council
*) UNATU membership was estimated in the 3rd Quarter in 2015 and was registered by the LO/FTF Council’s Narrative Assessment Report SRO East
Africa, 2015.
**) Trade union applied for affiliation to NOTU.
Uganda 2015
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Danish Trade Council for International Development and Cooperation
Labour Market Profile 2015
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