Back to the complete issue
Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Unemployment rates holds steady in 2Q 2022

Egypt’s unemployment rate remained flat at 7.2% in 2Q 2022 from last quarter, according to data (pdf) from statistics agency Capmas out yesterday. The jobless rate is down by 0.1 percentage point in comparison with the corresponding quarter last year.

The jobless rate has been more or less steady since the summer of 2020, after retreating from a two-year high in 2Q 2020 caused by the partial lockdown of the economy during covid.

REMEMBER- The official unemployment rate only includes people who are looking for work. The labor force participation rate — which counts everyone aged 15-64 either in work or actively looking for work — recorded 42.6%, down 0.2 percentage points on last quarter. The figure is up from 41.9% in the same quarter of 2021.

Slightly fewer young people out of work: The number of jobless 15-29 year-olds accounted for 61.3% of all jobless people, down from 63.0% in 1Q — marking the second consecutive quarter of decline in youth unemployment recently peaking at 64.3% in 4Q 2021.

The jobless rate among women was down 0.2 percentage points q-o-q to 17.5%, while the rate among men rose 0.1 percentage point to 5.0%. The unemployment rate is consistently recorded as much higher among women than men.

The figures come on the back of a somewhat positive PMI reading on employment for the non-oil private sector. Employment rates remained steady in July, breaking an eight-month streak of job losses, according to S&P Global’s survey of non-oil business conditions.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.