Unemployment rate decreases to 10.6% in Q1 2018

CAIRO – 15 May 2018: Egypt’s unemployment rate declined 1.4 percent during the first quarter of 2018 to 10.6 percent, compared to 12 percent in the same period of 2017, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

On a quarter on quarter basis, unemployment rate also decreased from 11.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017.

CAPMAS said that the unemployment rate among young people from 15 to 29 years old recorded 75.2 percent of the total labor force in Q1 2017.

The report revealed that the unemployment of holders of intermediate, university and higher degrees reached 87.7 percent of the total labor force; compared to 89.5 in the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate in urban areas recorded 12.1 percent, compared to 9.5 percent in rural areas.

The number of employees reached 26.09 million in Q1 2018, with an increase of 1.7 percent, or 446,000 employees, compared to the same period of 2017.

In 2017, Egypt’s unemployment rate slipped to 11.8 percent, compared to 12.5 percent in 2016.

Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy said earlier that the Egyptian economic reform program contributed in reducing the unemployment rate by 2.3 percent in three years, clarifying that the huge projects established by the government provided job opportunities.

Meanwhile, Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said in March that the construction sector helped in providing around 3.7 million jobs, representing 20 percent of total workers in the domestic market.

This data matched with what President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi had earlier stated about reducing the rate to 10 percent during the few upcoming years.

Minister of Planning’s Advisor Ahmed Kamali stated earlier that Egypt needs to provide 700,000 job opportunities to limit the increase of the unemployment rate, and this number should be exceeded to reduce the unemployment rate.

In the same context, IMF Egypt Mission Chief Subir Lall said that Egypt has to offer 700,000 job opportunities annually, noting that this number has to be led by the private sector, in light of the large population growth and the large number of youths.

Lall added that the private sector alone can provide these opportunities through the establishment of small and medium enterprises, and the expansion of existing companies where it is difficult for the public sector to step in.

Decreasing the unemployment rates requires higher levels of economic growth. Egypt witnessed a growth rate of 5.3 percent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017/2018, targeting to achieve a rate of 5.8 percent during the next fiscal year, and 7 percent in 2022.

The upcoming budget seeks to lower the unemployment rate to 10.4 percent with an inflation rate of 13 percent.

Egypt 2030 Vision aims to reduce unemployment from the current percentage to 4 percent.