Egypt's unemployment rate fell to 7.2 per cent in Q4 2022

The largest block of unemployed Egyptians — 63 per cent — were in the 15 to 29 age group

Egyptians are facing record-high inflation that has left many unable to afford essential goods and services. AFP

Egypt’s unemployment rate fell slightly by 0.2 per cent to 7.2 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2022, data released by the country’s statistics agency Capmas revealed on Wednesday.

More than two million Egyptians were without a job, the data showed, 1.19 million of them men and 991,000 women.

The largest block of unemployed Egyptians — 62 per cent — were in the 15 to 29 age group, with 37 per cent aged 30 to 64.

In the first age group, the highest level of unemployment was recorded among those aged 20 to 24, who made up 29.4 per cent, down from 30 per cent in the previous quarter.

About 25.9 per cent of them were aged 25 to 29 — down from 24.7 per cent in the previous quarter — and 7.7 per cent were aged 15 to 19, down from 7.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Unemployment was markedly higher in urban areas, at 10.7 per cent of the viable workforce. Rural areas saw unemployment unchanged from the previous quarter, at 4.5 per cent.

About 83.2 per cent of unemployed Egyptians held intermediate or higher education credentials, with 37 per cent holding intermediate certificates, such as technical degrees, and 46.2 per cent of them holding university degrees.

As Egypt contends with record-high inflation that has left many unable to afford essential goods and services, the government has implemented a number of measures to try to mitigate the effects of the crisis, with limited success.

Following its weekly meeting on Wednesday, Egypt’s Cabinet approved a decision to exempt the country’s chicken farms from real-estate taxes as a way of reducing their costs to help them navigate the economic conditions.

Chicken prices have skyrocketed over the past year because of the increased costs of importing components needed to manufacture feed and the historic drop in the value of the Egyptian pound against the dollar.

The finance ministry will now cover chicken farms’ real estate taxes for the next three years, a Cabinet statement said.