10m Ugandans will be hunting for jobs by 2020
Description: Young men nap the afternoon away at the Railway grounds. Young men nap the afternoon away at the Railway grounds in Kampala. Many people who have no jobs tend to idle their time away. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa By SOLOMON ARINAITWE Posted Sunday, August 24 2014 at 01:00 IN SUMMARY A World Bank report says out of the nearly 400,000 graduates produced by institutions annually, less than 100,000 are able to find jobs. KAMPALA- The number of Ugandans in search for jobs could shoot up to 10 million by 2020, piling more pressure on job creation and attempts at achieving economic equality, according to a World Bank report. The report titled Jobs: Key to Prosperity published last year made a grim assessment of Ugandas strides in creating jobs for a major segment of an educated, young and urban population. Uganda is facing an increasing challenge to productively employ its fast growing and mainly young, literate and increasingly urban population, it noted. The World Bank report is corroborated by a 2013 study by the Labour and Education ministries that discovered that out of the nearly 400,000 graduates produced by training institutions annually, less than 100,000 are able to find jobs. The countrys population currently estimated to be 34 million will have grown to about 42 million by 2020. Mr Paul Lukema, a research analyst with the Economic Policy Research Centre, says the short term solution in plugging the job deficit lies in promoting agriculture but with the government looking forward to embracing industrialisation in the long run. Uganda should create at least 400,000 jobs annually which is 2 million jobs every five years. Though agriculture employs more than 65 per cent of our population, there has been a trend where youth shift from rural areas to urban areas which is a shift from agriculture to [the] service [sector], Mr Lukema argues. He adds: The solution would be industrialisation because it adds value to agriculture and produces formal, high-wage jobs. However, all is not gloom and doom for Uganda as the World Bank report further projected that ongoing reforms to Ugandas education sector will mean that by 2020, about 50 per cent of Ugandas total labour force will have attained at least a minimum of primary education. The Daily Monitor beginning today will run a series tracing Ugandas unemployment woes, what can be done to plug the job deficit and the effects of joblessness on our society. [email protected] Thé Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy" Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi "Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
