The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has revealed that Egypt’s unemployment rate fell to 7.7% in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, according to Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development.
The Q1 figures compared to the 8% reported during the same quarter of 2019. This is consistent with Egypt’s high growth rates in the first half (H1) of the fiscal year (FY) 2019/2020, which amounted to 5.6%.
El-Said, however, also said that the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying government directed preventive measures adopted to contain the pandemic’s spread had negatively affected the unemployment rate in April. It rose to 9.2% between the end of March and the end of April 2020.
El-Said added that the numbers in the workforce increased by 0.2% to 29.008m individuals, up from 28.95m in Q1 of 2020. Unemployment recorded 2.236m individuals, a decrease of 31,000 compared to the same quarter in 2019.
The minister noted that the unemployment rate for those aged between 15 and 29 years decreased to 68.5% in Q1 of 2020, down from 69.5% in Q4 of 2019. The number of employees increased to 26.772m in Q1 of 2020, up from 26.621m in Q4 of 2019.
