Ugandans at Entebbe International Airport leaving for jobs abroad
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has revealed that a total of 8.830 Ugandans left the country in search for jobs abroad, with most of them destined for Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry made the pronouncement yesterday on its Twitter account while giving an update on Uganda’s Microeconomic Developments.
“Due to Covid19, formal sector employment declined from 714,048 employees in May 2021 to 653,066 employees in June 2021. However migrant labour numbers increased from 3,706 in May 2021 to 8,830 in June 2021 (people travelling for work esp. Saudi Arabia),” read in part the statement.
However, a number of Twitter users blasted the Ministry of Finance for celebrating the number of people leaving Uganda for petty jobs abroad, with former Daily Monitor Journalist Kyeyune W. Moses remarking, “A country is celebrating an increase in exploitative labour. Modern slavery!”
Former Vision Group CEO, also weighed on saying, “I am not sure the migrant labour is a good index.”
Daniel Rutiba remarked, “Shocking that in a population of over Shs44m people only about 700,000 or 1.6% are in formal employment. There is need to bring more workers into the formal economy.”
However, the Finance Ministry defended its decision to celebrate growth in external labour export writing, “Think again, we recognize the contribution to our economy.”
The Ministry also revealed that Monthly food inflation registered a further decrease of 0.8% in June 2021 from the 0.4% recorded in May 2021 and attributed this to a fall in general food prices.
According to the Finance Ministry, the number of public pensioners increased from 82,548 in May 2021 to 83,373 in June,2021 largely on account of new entrants into the retirement age bracket.
