Social mobility, the labour and education puzzle

By Jon O’Kane

Before engaging in any discussion on labour and labour rights, it is important to ask the question: why do we work?  The very idea of labour can be viewed in many different ways.  Individually, a person may work to do something they love, support their families, or follow their passions.  Collectively, members of society work and are compensated for the contributions they make to each other. 

Economists argue that generally, people are paid more money for greater contributions to what society needs.  If you build a useful tool, you will be paid accordingly.  Looking at the labour scheme as a whole, a healthy economy thrives when individuals are able to, through self-motivation and financial reward, give back to society.

Still, economics is very abstract and cannot be easily expressed in just a few sentences.  The idea that the free market can allow for the most efficient way to distribute wealth and accomplish societal goals like supply and demand is, I argue, oversimplified.  A perfect free market would have the best carpenter doing carpentry – but in practice, he or she may never have the opportunity to learn the trade.

That brings me to the focus of this article.  Opportunity.  Uganda has a tremendous chance to grow, succeed and thrive by fostering the opportunity for individuals to contribute to the market and their own lives.  Many call this broad notion of opportunity social mobility. 

Social mobility is the framework in which an individual from any background has the opportunity to lead a life under any profession.  Allowing for personal growth can build a happier, more fulfilled nation. 

This article seeks to explore how to foster social mobility, improving the economy and quality of life of Uganda’s ambitious citizenry.  A person’s potential should not be governed by their background or wealth, but instead their inherent ability and motivation.
A fair wage

One approach to enhancing social mobility is to create a baseline, or minimum, standard of living that is helpful enough to allow people to train and work, while supporting families.  It is incredibly difficult to develop skills to attain a higher paying job if a person is focused on day-to-day providing for their family.  There are several ways to approach a minimum standard of living, the most commonly cited example being minimum wage.

To some scholars, the free market economy has a distribution of wealth that has both the rich and the impoverished as a result of its nature.  A minimum wage establishes a threshold of compensation at or above which employers must pay their employees by law.  This minimum wage can be defined as the lowest possible amount a person would need to achieve a certain standard of living.  This, I propose, is an important component of a comprehensive social mobility plan, but as an isolated effort faces shortcomings.

Minimum wage policies put the burden on employers.  Although many employers may be able to accommodate the difference in costs through lost profits, this is particularly harming to new and small businesses.  Policy makers must walk a cautious line when determining what standard of living could be appropriate for the diverse number of employment settings. 

Others suggest that a minimum wage policy would harm the balance of the free market, where people are forced to be paid more than the market says they should be.  On this point, I must emphasize that traditional free market analyses often lose important finer details of the practical problems beyond the scope of supply and demand. 

Economists themselves are divided on the impact of minimum wages; empirical evidence, in most cases, shows minimal or no detrimental effects in the long term.  As such, the implementation of a minimum wage policy can do much to support impoverished workers.

A more practical problem that demonstrates how minimum wage cannot be the only means of social mobility is that a large percentage of the Uganda population works outside of the wage sector. 

Farmers, for example, produce their crop and sell it for market value.  They have no employers that would have to pay them a higher wage.  With such a large number of people working outside the wage sector, more than minimum wage must be done to foster social mobility. 

The best way to improve the wealth of those outside of the wage sector is to improve the economy, so producers could sell goods for higher prices.  Conveniently, enhancing social mobility can improve the strength of the economy, so these goals work hand in hand.

Education as a mechanism of social mobility

Education can mean many different things to many different people.  A recent construction of education pictures the classroom environment, where a teacher passes on information of languages and more to a group of young students. 

Education, more broadly, is the communication of knowledge and wisdom, from one person to another.  Therefore, I support the school of thought that education can be the key tool in enhancing social mobility, by equipping students with training, skills, and wisdom to advance themselves.

The notion of education is emphasized and supported by many different legislative texts in Uganda, including several affirmations in the Constitution.  Beginning with Section XVIII of the National Objectives, it emphasizes, “The State shall promote free and compulsory basic education.” 

Article 30 states: “All persons have a right to education.”  A careful read of both of these provisions reveals there is no ‘positive’ obligation to actually pay and support education on behalf of government.  Instead, education appears as a ‘negative’ right, meaning that although the State may not need to take positive actions to support education, it cannot interfere with the right to education.

The classroom shapes a very modern perception of education.  We need to recognize, though, that this is not the only way to achieve educational goals, enhancing the labour market in Uganda. 

The topics and method of teaching in current classrooms can be likened to a British model, residual to earlier periods when non-Ugandans built school structures the way the only way they knew how. 

This system is individualistic, as opposed to many community-based approaches to education.  This distinction and the merits of both systems are complex and sensitive.  The lesson for this report is: when access is increased to a number of different educational options, ranging from traditional community lessons, to vocational training, to purely academic matters, people become more likely to find livelihoods that promote their interests.  This creates a society where people work efficiently and happily as individuals who collectively cooperate in a successful economy.

The next steps forward

Uganda’s recent educational history is ambitious, but nevertheless needs serious investment before the present system catches up with the legislated ideal.  The framework for education appears strong, but financial support to accomplish that goal does not necessarily follow.

Universal Primary Education, or UPE, offers an example of both the steps being taken to enhance social mobility and the need to devote more resources to accomplish that goal.  UPE can, in some circles, be championed for increasing access to education. 

School populations have grown.  Young girls are participating in larger and larger proportions.  Overall, statistics speak in favour of this universality.  The challenges, however, are grave.  Teachers are paid dramatically low amounts in contrast to civil servants, for example. 

The infrastructure of schools is not equipped with necessary tools to provide a high quality education in some regions.  Although growth in attendances and proportionality can be applauded, once students are in the classroom environment, they need to receive high quality education to accomplish the goals of social mobility. 

Teachers, being underpaid and currently in labour disputes with government, need to be seen as heroes of the next generation and compensated as such.  When meaningful investments are made in teachers and school resources, education can flourish and young people can equip themselves with the skills to follow any profession.

Moving forward, the present shift to Universal Secondary Education, or USE, is bold and can learn many lessons from its Primary school counterpart.  The structure of USE is fee-based, but fees are capped at fixed maximum.  No student should need to pay more than this cap to be able to continue learning. 

This presents an immediate barrier to education.  Government has made strides to increase access by limited school fees, but the rates are still unattainably high for many prospective students who have the academic capacity to succeed there.  If a student is denied schooling for financial reasons, they can be limited to a number of career options, mitigating social mobility. 

In schools that have lowered their school fee to increase access, the resource problems already faced at the UPE level become amplified.  Teachers become strained; infrastructure becomes lacking.  The burden of tradeoff between access and quality is borne by the students and the school itself.  To remedy this, again, education must be a political priority.

Finances comprise only one barrier to education; there can be many more, unique to each student.  The physical barrier of geography, for example, hinders a child’s ability to study if the schools are too far away to travel to. 

Transport or more physical schools may be possible solutions.  The physiological barrier of disability can be difficult to detect as it prevents students from studying.  Physical disabilities may make it challenging to go to a classroom; mental disabilities may make teaching environments taxing on certain students. 

The focus then is on identification and accommodation.  Although a student’s disability need not be public information, support can still be arranged to respect the rights of a disabled student while empowering them to learn.  Further, familial barriers may exist, whereby students whose family or community has not taken education are less likely to achieve it as well.  This echoes the constitutional imperative that government should promote education to all people.

Opportunity within reach

The concept of opportunity and social mobility can be exciting.  The establishment of it, through public policy, can seem to be a daunting task.  Minimum wage and universal education are key components to allowing individuals to fulfill their potential, but it does not come without a financial cost.

A paradigm in thinking must shift.  Although education may be perceived as an expensive solution to the problem, the return on investment can be generous.  As education becomes more accessible, labour becomes diversified, and societies become more self-sufficient. 

As economies grow with diverse jobs, the tax base can increase, bolstering the public purse and the government’s ability to make further social investments.  Social mobility, a lofty goal, is within reach if Uganda is willing to seize it.