Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men in Egypt
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
6-2014
Abstract
Young people entering the labour market in Egypt face a number of severe constraints. The Egyptian economy is currently suffering from the ramifications of two major events: continuous political instability following the January 2011 revolution and the slowdown in global growth subsequent to the 2008 economic crisis. These two events have had a serious negative impact on job creation in the country. At the same time, the large number of youth, who comprise about one-fifth of the population and add approximately 600,000 new entrants to the labour market each year, puts further stress on the Egyptian employment situation and its already limited opportunities.
The Egyptian Government has long had youth employment on its agenda. The Youth Employment National Action Plan (2010–15) outlines Egypt’s strategy towards more and better jobs for youth. The Action Plan identified three priority areas including technical education and vocational training, enterprise development and labour market policies and programmes.
To characterize the specific youth employment challenges and to support policy- makers in designing adequate instruments to support the transition of young people into employment, the ILO has developed its school-to-work transition survey (SWTS), a household survey of young people aged 15–29. The SWTS, implemented in Egypt in 2012, serves as a principal tool to monitor the impact of policies and programmes outlined in national instruments. This report is intended for the policy-makers and social partners who are concerned with the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of youth-related policies and programmes in the country.
The indicators generated from the survey and analysed in this report aim to present a much more detailed picture of youth in the labour market than that usually derived through standard surveys, including the labour force survey. Youth unemployment is a major national concern in the country, particularly after the 2011 revolution. The analysis provided in this report highlights two major and specific issues pertaining to the labour market in Egypt. The first relates to young women’s very low labour force participation and high unemployment rates. The second relates to the poor quality of jobs held by young men and women, even among those who have completed their labour market transition.
Recommended Citation
Barsoum, G., Ramadan, M. & Mostafa, M. (Jun 2014). Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men in Egypt. International Labour Office, Geneva, Work4Youth Publication Series, 16, 1-60.
Comments
For the inquiries, you can contact:
mohamed.ramadan@bue.edu.eg