Labor draft law to reduce unemployment rate in Egypt: Parliament

CAIRO – 11 August 2018: The new labor draft law addresses more than 26 million citizens working in the private sector and non-governmental organizations, MP Abdel Razek Al Zant, secretary of Parliament's labor force committee, said on Friday.

He added that this draft law will contribute in encouraging young people to work in the private sector and will play a major role in reducing the rate of unemployment in Egypt and thus improving the national economy,

Deputy of Planning and Budgeting Committee in the House of Representatives, Mostafa Salem, has also said the proposals considered and studied by the government on whether to divide working days into shifts or to decrease the number of working days are aimed at redistributing working hours to make the most out of the number of employees

“These proposals will restructure the working day for employees to ensure that they utilize their energy in the best way possible. On top of that, it will help ease the work pressure while allowing them to benefit from the time they actually spend working,” said Salem.

Salem pointed out that these proposals are being studied by the government, be it to reorganize working shifts or number of days, which is expected to help reduce traffic congestion during rush hours. Instead of having all employees leave at the same time, they will leave at different timings during the day.

Traffic is a major issue which greatly impacts Egyptian citizens' health and the environment they live in.

Alongside a decrease in traffic levels, the plan will give some employees the opportunity to participate in other extra jobs to help them face pricing hikes, he added.

Salem said that it is better to have work divided into shifts or divide the working days amongst employees. This means working hours for shifts would be six hours across six days. If divided into three days, the working hours will be 10 hours. He stressed the importance of the government submitting a bill in this regard to be discussed in the Parliament.

The Middle East Monitor wrote that the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) said the government is studying decreasing the number of working days for employees in the state’s administrative body without any changes in the wages or in the number of working hours.