I commonly encountered a habit of juggling two or more jobs, one of which was usually selfemployed in a personal business venture. According to a 2014 report by the Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development( MOFPED), 80 % of the labour force works primarily for themselves or their families, predominantly in the agricultural sector. 24 % of economically active adults work in two or more different jobs, while only 11 % of the labour force is primarily engaged in non-agricultural wage employment. [ 3 ]
For many Ugandans, going it alone seems the most secure and favourable means of earning a living. When looking closely at the MOFPED report, we can assign blame to a weak labour market, beleaguered by demand constraints:
The labour force growth rate has significantly outpaced the growth of salaried employment in Uganda. The number of labour market entrants has rapidly increased, with over half of the labour force under the age of 30, and over half of the population still under the age of 15. Consequently, many young people cannot find wage employment, and look to entrepreneurship as an alternative.
The effects of an increasingly young population are compounded by many students’ delayed entry into the education system, and need to repeat higher grades. The result is that a majority of young people reach working age before completing primary school, and so are less likely to continue to higher levels of education. Instead, they enter the labour market. Indeed, only around 5 % of the labour force has completed upper secondary school.
Furthermore, unemployment is increasing among those with higher education. Although 73 % of university graduates were employed in graduate-level occupations in 2009 / 10, this fell to 53 % in 2012 / 13. As a result, many highly-educated people are absorbed into employment in the informal sector, often starting their own businesses.
76 % of households earn income from agricultural production, but it is the most important source of income for only 42 % of households, as agricultural incomes tend to be low and irregular. Instead, non-agricultural enterprises and wage employment have emerged as important supplementary income sources: over 70 % of households earn income from either wage employment or non-agricultural enterprises. Given the difficulties of gaining formal sector salaried jobs, entrepreneurship has grown as people seek to supplement their income beyond agricultural sources alone.