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
الجمعة 01 نوفمبر 2013, 8:15 am من طرف عادل كامل عبد الرحمن
