The unemployment rate for the first quarter (Q1) of 2016 in the 15-64 age range fell to 12.7%, compared to 12.8% in Q4 of 2015, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).
CAPMAS added in a report released on Sunday that the unemployment rate in the 15-29 age range reached 27.3%. It also stated that the rate for the male youth demographic was recorded at 21%, whereas it was 46.8% for women in the same age range.
The report has further elaborated that 36.1% of unemployed individuals in the 15-29 age range have completed secondary or higher education.
Moreover, unemployment in cities during Q1 of 2016 increased to 15.2% compared to 15.1% in Q4 of 2015. However, unemployment in rural areas decreased slightly to record 10.9% in Q1 of 2016 compared to 11% in Q4 of 2015.
The urban governorates registered the highest rates of unemployment with 16.1%, while the lowest rates were registered in the rural areas of southern governorates at 9.9%.
The labour force volume in Q1 of 2016 reached approximately 24.8m, marking a 0.4% increase (or 96,000 people) compared to Q4 of 2015.
The number of employed men reached 20m, marking an increase of 21,000 people, whilst the number of employed women has increased by 75,000 to reach 4.8m people.
The report added that the number of salaried workers reached 16m employees, a 64.4% increase of the total labour force. The number of business owners reached 12.1% (or 3m businesspeople) of the total labour force, while the number of self-employed workers recorded 3.4m people, registering at 13.8% of the total labour force.
CAPMAS revealed that the agriculture and fishery sectors had the highest participation rate from those involved in economic activities, recording 22.9% (or 5.7m workers) of the total labour force.
Wholesale and retail trade ranked second with 3.5m workers, recording 14% of the total labour force, while the number of workers in manufacturing reached 3.2m workers, recording 12.8% of the total labour force.
According to CAPMAS, the construction and building sector employed 3m workers recording 12.0% of the total labour force, while the education sector had 2.1m employees, recording 8.3% of the total labour force. The number of workers in the transport and storage sector reached 1.8m workers, recording 7.4% of the total labour force.
