Unemployment rate falls to 11.8% in 2017

CAIRO – 16 April 2018: Egypt’s unemployment rate slipped to 11.8 percent in 2017, compared to 12.5 percent in 2016, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) stated in a report issued on Monday.

CAPMAS said that the unemployment rate among young people from 15 to 29 years old recorded 24.8 percent of the total labor force in 2017, clarifying that the rate among males reached 20 percent, while among females reached 36.5 percent.

In the same age range, the unemployment of holders of intermediate, university and higher degrees reached 31.8 percent of the total labor force in 2017; 24.9 percent for males and 47.2 percent for females.

The report revealed that the labor force recorded 29.47 million individuals in 2017, compared to 28.93 million individuals in 2016, with a 540,000 individual increase.

The number of unemployed people in 2017 was 3.46 million, compared to 3.6 million in the previous year.

The unemployment rate in urban areas recorded 14.5 percent, compared to 9.8 percent in rural areas due to the availability of employment opportunities in rural areas.

The number of employees jumped to 26 million employed in 2017, compared to 25.331 million employed in 2016, with an increase of 675,000 workers by 2.7 percent.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the unemployment rates in Egypt fell to 11.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to 12.4 percent in the same quarter of 2016.

The unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2017 declined to 11.9 percent from 12.6 percent in the same quarter of 2016.

Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy said Sunday 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 has 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.