The Distribution of Political Campaign Work: A Labor-Market Perspective from Uganda

Background: Electoral campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa mobilize vast numbers of people, yet their contribution to local labour markets is rarely examined. Purpose: This study reconceptualises campaign activity in Uganda as contingent informal labour and investigates which socio-economic groups supply this effort. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on nationally representative Afrobarometer rounds 7 and 8 (2017, 2022), the research pools 4,800 adult observations and applies survey-weighted descriptive statistics and logistic regressions. Age, current employment, and a lived-poverty index test competing expectations that campaign work is either a stop-gap for the most vulnerable or a network-mediated opportunity for socially embedded workers. Findings: Campaign work is common: between one-quarter and one-third of adults reported working for a candidate or party during the most recent election. Participation rises monotonically with age; Ugandans aged 36 + are about 50 per cent more likely to participate than those aged 18–25. Employed respondents are modestly more engaged than the non-employed, while material deprivation shows no discernible association once age and employment are controlled. These patterns suggest that campaigns selectively recruit reliable, networked individuals rather than simply absorbing economically distressed youth. Originality/value: By treating elections as labour-demand events, the article bridges political economy and labour-market scholarship, demonstrating that campaign labour is structured by organisational embeddedness and life-cycle positioning, not acute poverty. The findings challenge vulnerability-centric narratives and offer a refined lens for analysing informal, episodic work in contexts of high under-employment.