GOVT MOVES TO END EXPORT OF UNSKILLED LABOUR

Some of the Ugandans lining up at Entebbe Airport travelling abroad for job opportunities.

NILE POST

The government is moving to restrict the externalisation of unskilled labour as government plans to prioritise skilled professionals for employment opportunities abroad.

State Minister for Labour Simon Mulongo said the planned changes are intended to professionalise Uganda’s labour market, promote decent employment and ensure Ugandans working abroad possess skills that can attract better wages and generate greater economic returns for the country.

 “We are going to realign external labour, and the companies that take people outside the country are going to be reviewed to ensure there is safety and decency for the workers who go outside there,” Mulongo said.

Uganda’s labour-export industry has grown into a significant source of employment and foreign exchange, with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development listing 228 licensed private recruitment companies as of April 7, 2026.

Official government data shows that 293,973 Ugandan workers were formally externalised between 2016 and October 2024, with Saudi Arabia accounting for 238,987, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 25,169 and Qatar with 13,698.

A separate Ministry dataset covering the Middle East puts the number at 317,555 workers by December 2024, with 81.37% going to Saudi Arabia, 9.17% to the UAE and 4.37% to Qatar.

Many of these workers take up domestic work and other low- and semi-skilled jobs, although the labour-export system also covers sectors such as security, hospitality, construction, healthcare and other services.

The economic value extends beyond employment: Bank of Uganda’s new Cross-Border Remittance Report puts total remittance – which includes those from labour externalisation – inflows at $2.5 billion in 2025, equivalent to roughly 3.8% of GDP.

That makes remittances an extremely important source of foreign exchange. For comparison, Bank of Uganda puts coffee export earnings at about $2.46 billion in 2025, while tourism generated about $1.62 billion.

Minister Mulongo said government would also assess the skills demanded in foreign labour markets before Ugandans are recruited for overseas jobs.

“More importantly, we are going to look at the skills required. We are going to discourage taking raw labour. We want people who go outside there to be skilled, so that when they go outside there, the country earns more,” he said.

Mulongo made the remarks while conducting a spot check on factories in Njeru Municipality, Buikwe District, as part of a countrywide campaign to assess working conditions, strengthen labour inspection and promote workers’ safety and welfare.

Njeru Municipality hosts more than 50 factories employing thousands of workers across different sectors. The inspections are also intended to assess compliance with occupational safety and labour regulations.

Mulongo, accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and Njeru Municipality, visited Gdas Industries, Modern Tiles and Yalelo Fish Factory.

He urged factory owners and other investors to prioritise workers’ safety and welfare by providing appropriate protective equipment and ensuring employees are registered with the National Social Security Fund.

“We are going to carry out more inspections of factories to ensure compliance with safety measures,” Mulongo said.

He said government also wants NSSF coverage to expand beyond the formal sector to reach more workers in the informal economy.

“Since NSSF falls under our docket, we want the fund to expand rigorously into the informal sector,” he said.

Mulongo said the countrywide inspections would also assess the performance of labour officers and ensure they actively monitor workplaces within their areas of jurisdiction.

He expressed concern that some labour officers had become less active in conducting workplace inspections and said they would be required to carry out impromptu visits and submit regular reports.

“We have found out that some of our labour officers have relaxed, and we want them to write reports and also carry out impromptu inspections of the factories,” he said.

The minister said the inspections would be extended beyond Njeru to other parts of the country to identify violations, address workplace safety concerns and enforce labour laws.

Factory owners and managers welcomed the minister’s visit and used the opportunity to raise challenges affecting their businesses and workers.

Sanjay Prasad, General Manager of Gdas Industries, said the visit had provided an opportunity for the company to present some of its challenges to government.

“The Minister’s visit was timely since we shared with him some of the challenges we face, and he has pledged to forward them to Government and the relevant authorities to handle,” Prasad said.

Mulongo said companies involved in recruiting Ugandans for overseas employment would also be reviewed to ensure workers are adequately protected and recruitment agencies comply with government standards.

The government’s proposed changes come amid efforts to strengthen the labour market, improve protection of migrant workers and ensure Ugandans working abroad benefit from decent conditions and better remuneration.

Mulongo said the approach would focus on skills development, worker protection, decent employment and stronger regulation of labour recruitment agencies.

He said government would continue inspecting workplaces and consulting employers and workers as it works to improve labour standards across the country.

The paradox

Minister Mulongo’s proposal raises an important policy question: if Uganda stops exporting unskilled and semi-skilled workers and concentrates mainly on skilled professionals, will foreign employers actually absorb them at the scale required?

The answer is not necessarily straightforward. Uganda’s biggest labour market abroad is currently Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf, where much of the demand has historically been for domestic workers, security personnel, hospitality workers, construction labourers and other lower- and semi-skilled occupations.

A wholesale shift towards skilled professionals could therefore reduce the number of Ugandans able to access overseas jobs unless government first negotiates new labour-market agreements and identifies specific skills in demand abroad.

There is also a brain-drain dilemma: sending more doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, ICT specialists and other highly trained professionals abroad could increase remittances and improve Uganda’s foreign-exchange earnings, but it could simultaneously deprive the country of scarce skills needed to deliver public services and drive domestic industrialisation.

The more sustainable approach may therefore be to move up the labour-value chain without abandoning lower-skilled workers—investing in training, certification and worker protection while negotiating overseas opportunities for both skilled and semi-skilled Ugandans.

That would allow Uganda to earn more from its human capital without creating a policy that effectively exports the very professionals it needs at home.