Transforming Secondary Urban Areas for Job Creation: A Study of Uganda

17 February 2020
ABOUT THIS Report

Rapid population growth and a growing youth workforce, coupled with rapid urbanization, have created a policy imperative to generate jobs on a large scale across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rapid population growth and a growing youth workforce, coupled with rapid urbanization, have created a policy imperative to generate jobs on a large scale across Sub-Saharan Africa. To meet this challenge, governments must consider job creation through a spatial lens, look beyond primary metropolitan areas and consider how smaller urban settlements can be turned into productive centers of job creation and growth.

Government officials in Uganda are taking steps to strengthen secondary urban area economies, recognizing that the creation of employment opportunities in small towns and urban areas will be critical to inclusive development and meeting the objectives set forth in Vision 2040.

To gain insight into the challenges and opportunities for developing and implementing job creation strategies in secondary urban areas, JustJobs Network studied the following issues: the role of secondary urban areas in job creation and economic development; the main demographic characteristics of Uganda’s urban settlements; the local economies and labor markets of different settlement types in Uganda; and the effectiveness of the current policy framework in promoting job creation and local economic development in secondary urban areas.

Based on findings from the analysis, the report identifies policy options that could facilitate the creation of the quantity and quality of jobs the country needs in secondary urban areas to support economic opportunity for the growing youth population.