Mega national projects helped bring unemployment down to 7.2%: Manpower minister

CAIRO - 9 August 2021: Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan said that the State's mega national projects contributed to reducing unemployment rate from 13.2 per cent in 2013 to 7.2 in 2021.

Addressing a conference held Monday by the press and media workers syndicate, Saafan added that the ministry's work programme seeks to cut employment rates by 1.5 per cent annually, while bolstering cooperation with business owners and investors to create more jobs.

Despite the myriad of challenges President Abdel Fattah El Sisi faced when he assumed power in 2014, the president, with all Egyptian workers at his back, has managed to build a new republic, the minister said during the conference, which was themed: "Workers' role in building the new republic under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi."

The conference was attended by Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan, the head of the National Press Agency, Abdel Sadek al Shorbagy, as well as senior pressmen and media figures and lawmakers.

Highlighting the great attention the State pays to casual workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, Safaan said that a total of EGP 6 billion had been earmarked under a presidential initiative to support irregular workers affected by restrictive measures to stem the spread of the virus.