The Ministry of Gender’s data reveals that the government garnered Shs25 billion from the exportation of migrant workers in the two years leading up to 2023. The primary sources of income included expression of interest fees, fines, accreditation, job orders (local and foreign), and license fees. According to the Labour Externalisation Statistics report spanning January 2022 to December 2023, the government’s largest earnings, Shs24.5 billion, came from local and foreign job orders. Local job orders contributed Shs324 million, while foreign job orders constituted a significant portion with Shs24.1 billion.
Detailed data indicates that the peak income from job orders was in 2022, generating Shs17 billion compared to Shs7 billion in 2023. The report highlights that 390 companies were licensed, bringing in Shs780 million, while accreditation contributed Shs21 million to the government’s revenue. Additional income sources encompassed expression of interest fees and fines, amounting to Shs58.8 million and Shs72 million, respectively.
However, the report points out a substantial decline in earnings across all categories in 2023. According to Ms Ritah Nakonde, a labour officer at the Ministry of Gender, the decrease is attributed to the delayed renewal of a bilateral labour externalisation agreement between Uganda and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia claimed a significant share of 89.1 percent of Uganda’s migrant workers.
The data illustrates a sharp drop in earnings to Shs7.3 billion in 2023 from Shs17.7 billion in 2022 due to the agreement’s delayed renewal. The report, however, does not provide details on the reasons behind the delay.
Over the two years leading up to December 2023, approximately 120,459 migrant workers departed Uganda in search of employment, with 77.5 percent (109,773) being women and 10,686 being males. The Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, remained the favored destination, attracting 89.1 percent or 107,448 out of the total 120,459 workers.
Ms Nakonde emphasized that the delay in renewing the externalisation agreement with Saudi Arabia resulted in recruitment agencies losing job orders, leading to the decline in both income and the number of migrant workers. In 2023, only 27,063 migrant workers left the country, a significant decrease from the 93,396 recorded in 2022.
Qatar and the UAE followed Saudi Arabia as preferred destinations, with 5.05 percent and 3.69 percent of migrant workers heading there, respectively. The report also notes that labour externalisation remains a crucial source of employment for Uganda, absorbing a substantial number of unemployed youth. The majority of migrant workers are employed in casual jobs such as housemaids, security guards, cleaners, drivers, waiters, and waitresses, with house helps being the predominant category. Approximately 220,000 migrant Ugandan workers are employed as house helps in the Middle East, along with 30,000 security guards and over 10,000 drivers.
