Rural areas have higher employment rates than urban: CAPMAS

CAIRO – 1 May 2018: May 1 marks International Workers Day, which is one of the most significant national holidays that the world commemorates every year. Egypt Today highlights the official data issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in 2017 on Egypt’s employment rates.

Egypt’s population has hit 104.2 million; 94.98 million live within Egypt, while 9.4 million live abroad, according to CAPMAS. Youth aged 15 to 24 years old constitute 18.2 percent of the total population.

Egypt suffered from a 12.5-percent unemployment rate in 2016, which fell to 11.8 percent in 2017.

According to CAPMAS, the number of Egyptian employees was 26 million in 2017, compared to 28.9 million in 2016, including 20.6 million (79.3 percent) of which are males and 5.4 million (20.7 percent) of which are females. Among those who are employed, 4-7 million employees are aged 30 to 39.

Wage employees made up 68.1 percent of employed persons, while self employed workers made up 12.8 percent.

Rural areas are estimated to have 17 million employees, compared to 12.4 million employees in urban areas.

Additionally, private sectors have the largest number of employees, estimated at 20 million, while employees in public sectors reached 4.6 million.

A quarter of Egyptian employees work in agriculture and fishing, 12.9 percent in building and construction, 12.6 percent in wholesale and retail trade, and 12 percent in transformative industries.

The government has led a policy to protect the rights of laborers in Egypt and achieve significant guarantees for them.

With the Egyptian Parliament putting the final touches to the new labor law, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi pronounced in his last speech during the Labor Day celebrations that he looks forward to seeing the new regulation applied.

The new labor law is important because it achieves a significant guarantee for laborers working in the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs); it provides them with security and preserves their rights. The bill guarantees resignation would not be accredited unless the Manpower Ministry approves and there would be no dismissal without a court verdict to avoid private employer arbitrariness.

The law contributes to encouraging young people to work in the private sector and maximizes their role in promoting the national economy. It also provides a safe environment for laborers while they are doing their job, through a clear contract between them and the employer.

The bill will include the creation of new labor courts to speed up litigation processes. It provides the opportunity for better training and education, while ensuring the rights of working women and people with special needs.

Additionally, women working in the private sector will be granted the right to a four-month maternity leave equal to those working in the public sector, in accordance with the Civil Service Law. This leave shall be granted twice during a woman's period of service.