Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said has said that the fiscal year (FY) 2021/22 investment plan aims to provide about 950,000 job opportunities.
This will, in turn, increase the number of those employed to about 27.9 million individuals, while keeping the number of unemployed at 2.2 million workers, or 7.3% of the total workforce.
El-Said’s remarks came during her review, on Monday, of the FY 2021/22 investment plan during a plenary session of Egypt’s Senate.
The minister said that the issues of employment and unemployment are the most important challenges in the labour market. Other issues include: a growing workforce that exceeds the absorptive capacity of economic activity; the rise in unemployment in the 15-29 age group; and the high unemployment rate among the educated.
On the basic programmes for social welfare and protection, El-Said referred to the “Decent Life” initiative for the development of Egyptian villages. The presidential initiative, launched in 2019, aims to improve the living conditions of villagers by providing protection and social care, upgrading the level of infrastructure services, and improving the quality of human development services.
In the same context, El-Said referred to the Women’s Empowerment Program, noting that it adopts a clear definition of the term women’s empowerment. This has been defined by the strategy for empowering women in its political, economic, and social dimensions.
The women’s empowerment programme consists of five basic elements related to a woman’s self-esteem and confidence in her potential.
Meanwhile, it also ensures that women have options and the right to define their options, provided that they are guaranteed the right to access opportunities and resources to control their life. This will also ensure they are able to influence the direction of social change in a positive way.
