Egypt eyes reducing unemployment to 11% in FY17/18

CAIRO – 10 September 2017: The government is targeting the reduction of the unemployment rate to 11 percent by the end of fiscal year (FY) 2017/18, Minister of Planning Hala El-Said announced Saturday.

As per the social and economic strategy of the government, the unemployment rate is expected to continue declining to 8.4 percent by the end of FY 2018/19.

On August 16, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced that the unemployment rate in Egypt reached 11.98 percent, as it was 12 percent by the beginning of 2017.

Unemployment in Egypt declined down to 12 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of calendar year 2017 from 12.4 percent in the final quarter of 2016 with youth and women having the highest shares in unemployment rates.

To resolve that issue, the Ministry of Manpower organizes job fairs, which functions as a mediator between employers and jobseekers.