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Associates and employment among Ugandan young migrants

that young people, in particular, consider migration because they want to escape the drudgery of subsistence living and
see “the bright lights of the big city.” The theory considers pull and push factors to appear in both areas of origin and
areas of destination. In the areas of origin the factors are called push factors, and in the areas of destination pull factors.
In both types of areas, we speak for the same factors, but the social conditions in one area are favorable, and in the other
area are not. They are connected through the economic, political, and war relations of the areas of origin and destination.
At the same time, the root causes of migration – both licit and illicit – lay in the unstable political, social, and economic
conditions in areas of origin. Other causes include rapid growth of the population, high unemployment, abject poverty,
internal conflicts resulting in civil disorder and widespread violence, unstable or oppressive political regimes, and grave
violations of human rights (Stanojoska and Petrevski, 2012).
The conceptual framework in Figure 1 shows that migration can lead to employment (in situations where a youth
leaves the place of origin to a new destination area to look for work), or employment can lead to migration (in situations
where a youth employee is being given work transfer to operate organization activities in another area) (Estruch, 2016).
Individual demographic factors such as age, sex, and residence are hypothesized to affect migration and employment in
such a way that females are in most cases constrained by social-cultural values to migrate and look for work because
they are expected to stay at home to look after family members (Lakuma, Marty, and Kuteesa, 2016); youths aged above
30 years are more likely to migrate to look for work because they have family responsibilities to fulfill (Konseiga, 2005).
On the other hand, urban youths tend to have contacts of their friends within the urban centers and other areas which help
them to get information about the existing opportunities in other areas (Lakuma, Marty, and Kuteesa, 2016).
Socioeconomic factors such as marital status, highest education level, and reasons for migration are hypothesized to
affect migration and employment (Lakuma, Marty, and Kuteesa, 2016). For example, the never-married youths are more
likely to migrate to look for work because they are not constrained by their spouses in the places of origin (Gubhaju and
Gordon, 2009). Economic reasons of a youth are more likely to drive a youth to migrant to look for work/set up small
businesses in the new destination area while highly educated youths are likely to migrant to look for greener pastures
in new destination areas because they have the contacts of the youths they have studied with and as well can access
information through the media about the existing opportunities in other areas (Lakuma, Marty, and Kuteesa, 2016).

2. Data and Methods

2.1. Data Source
The study used secondary data collected in a survey of Youth Employment and Migration in Eastern and Southern Africa
(YEMESA) coordinated by African Migration and Development Policy Centre (AMADPOC) in December 2017. The
main objective of the survey was to enhance the understanding of how migration influences youth employment, self-
employment, and entrepreneurship in Eastern and Southern Africa. In Uganda, the YEMESA project was carried out in

Explanatory variables Outcome variables

1.Demographic associates Migration status
Age 0 Non – migrant
Sex 1 Migrant
Number of children
Marital status
Urban or Rural Residence
2. Socioeconomic associates
Region
Highest educational level
Social networks Employment status
Reasons for migration
1.Unemployed
2.Self – employed
3.Employed

Figure 1. Conceptual framework for associates of youth migration and employment status.
Source: Adapted from Deotti and Estruch (2016) with permission.

40 International Journal of Population Studies | 2019, Volume 5, Issue 1