According to the Egyptian statistics authorities, the number of jobless people in Egypt has reached 1.4818 million.
Ahmed Amawi, Egyptian Minister of Manpower and Immigration was quoted by Al Ahram Arabic daily on Wednesday as saying the number is based on the international definition of unemployment, which excludes those with a source of income from the list of the unemployed.
Addressing the manpower committee at the People’s Assembly, headed by MP Abdulaziz Mustafa, the minister pointed out that the actual working force in Egypt for the age group 15 to 64 has reached 18.617 million. The number of males among these is 14.74 millions, and the rest are females, while the number of the unemployed among males has reached 727,700.
The minister has also revealed that the organized work force in the private sector has reached about 3.5 millions, while the number in the “unorganized” labor pool has reached 10 million. He added that the number of those insured does not exceed three million, while seven million workers are not included in an insurance system. This causes serious problems for these workers and compels them constantly to seek work opportunities with insurance.
However, some sectors complain of a lack in local labor.
“There are severe shortages in some professions such as the operators of textile machines, car mechanics and electrical maintenance technicians and cooks who are invited from abroad,” Amawi told the MPs.
The discussions among members stressed the importance of decreasing interest rates on the loans offered by the Social Fund for small investors, abolishing administrative bureaucracy, and reviewing the education plan to suit the market need for graduates in addition to the registration of the work force, said Al Ahram – Albawaba.com
