While you’re on your way to work this morning, doing the routine moaning and yearning for the days of unemployment, look outside your window and think of this – 3 out of 4 young people that cross your path are unemployed.
On Tuesday, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) released their official unemployment rates for quarter 2 of 2012 and the findings are devastating, to say the least. The national unemployment rate for Egypt has risen to 12.6%, marking a 0.8% increase from the same quarter last year. This means that 3.39 million Egyptians are currently unemployed – with all the social, psychological, and economic implications of joblessness . What is more reflective of the current politicall and economic situation in Egypt is the following trend – more than a quarter of those currently unemployed have only recently lost their jobs.
Unemployment in Egypt is even direr amongst vulnerable groups such as women and youth. According to CAPMAS, the unemployment rate for women stands at 24.1%, almost triple that of their male counterparts. A look at the youth unemployment rate paints a darker picture, with unemployment amongst those aged 15 to 29 a staggering 77.5%. 77.%! While this has been worsened by the economic fallout of the revolution, this is symptomatic of a global youth employment crisis. More on this to come in later writings.
There are two further factors that play a role in unemployment: geographical location and educational backgrounds. Despite the lack of opportunities in the governorates, unemployment rates in rural areas are 9.8% in contrast to an urban rate of 16.2%. What is most disheartening is that holders of intermediate, university and higher degrees are the biggest victims of joblessness, with eight out of ten reportedly unemployed.
While reading this news, I could not help but think of a statement made by former ILO Director General Juan Somavia. During the Opening Speech of the Youth Employment Forum, Mr. Somavia expressed the importance of work by proclaiming “work is part of peace in the community […] A community at work is a community at peace”. This was evidenced by the fact that unemployment served as a prominent rallying cause for the January 25th revolution. As a strong believer in this notion, I hope these statistics serve as a much-needed wake up call to the current administration.
WE SAID THIS: Job creation must be placed at the forefront of the national agenda, with particular emphasis placed on youth employment and women in the workplace. Without this, we are simply compromising what little societal “peace” we have left.