Egypt Unemployment

 

 

Unemployment has been one of the major problems of Egypt for over a few decades. The problem of unemployment in Egypt has increased significantly since the 1960s.

Total unemployment in Egypt, in 1960 was less than 200,000. By 1976, total unemployment rose to 850,000 and by 1986 this figure was more than two million. Unemployment has had severe effects on the Egyptian economy. It has also had negative mental and physical impacts on the Egyptian society.

Job opportunities have grown at a slower rate in Egypt compared to the growth rate of population. Moreover in rural Egypt, there are some areas with excess labor force while some regions have a scarcity of labor.

The youth of Egypt are most severely affected by the unemployment problem. Egyptian graduates have to wait for more than five years on an average to get employed by the labor force administration. Hence, unemployment is highest among the young graduates in Egypt.

The rates of unemployment in Egypt in recent years have been –

2003 – 9.9%
2004 – 10.9%
2005 – 9.5%
2006 – 10.3 %

Some of the major causes of unemployment in Egypt are –

Overpopulation
Lack of proper education and training
Effect of economic policies
Government policies
Personal reasons

While Egypt had set up the objective of attaining full employment, this objective remained far from fulfillment at the turn of the new century. The problem of unemployment worsened further and is now one of the major causes of concern. One of the major factors of the unemployment problem is that the labor force has grown at a faster rate than the demand for labor and this trend is likely to continue in the coming years too. Between 1988 and 1998, the labor force in Egypt grew at an annual average of 523,000 workers while employment increased at an annual average of 435,000. Between 2001 and 2010, labor supply is expected to grow at 2.6%. New job seekers will increase to an annual average of 638,000. Hence the unemployment problem is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.

Agriculture counts for the maximum employment in Egypt. 42% of the employed population in Egypt is involved in agriculture. However there is very little demand for employment in this sector. Moreover agriculture’s contribution to employment in Egypt has also declined over the years.

In Egypt, unemployment has also been the result of under performance of labor markets. This is also the reason for decline in labor income in Egypt. Unemployment among literates is much higher (almost ten times) than that among illiterates in Egypt. According to reports of ALO (Arab Labor Organization), higher unemployment among the educated is a trend of the entire Arab world.

In 2007, Egypt had an average unemployment rate of 8.3% as per the estimates of the national economic research center of Egypt.

The government, the private institutions and the labor force need to co-operate in order to solve the problem of unemployment in Egypt. Some of the important measures of solving the problem of unemployment are –

Effective economic policies
Proper government policies
Migration