By Godfrey Olukya 19-7-2013
International organization of Migration (IOM) this week organized a two and a half-day training workshop on labour migration and labour market information systems for government officials, employers’ associations, trade unions and international organizations in Kampala.
A statement issued by IOM said that the objective of the workshop was to gain a common understanding of labour migration and labour market information terminology and concepts, as well as the roles and responsibilities of key
stakeholders.
The workshop was organized against a backdrop of concern about the size and age of the Ugandan population and the effect this will have on the national labour market. Uganda’s population has been growing at an exponential rate during the course of the past decades, from 9.5 million in 1969 to 24.2 million in 2002 and to an estimated 31.8 million in 2010. Approximately 69.3% of the population is under 24 years of age.
Rapid growth of the population hampers the ability of the economy to generate sufficient employment opportunities for the increasing labour force, in particular for young Ugandans. At the current rate of growth, the labour force expansion requires the creation of at least 600,000 new jobs per year. Indeed by 2025, it is estimated that 28
million jobs will be required for the working age population.
