Egypt’s Jobless Rate Drops

Egypt’s unemployment rate declined to 6.6 per cent in 2024, down 0.4% from the previous year, driven by lower joblessness across both urban and rural areas and by growth in sectors such as agriculture, retail and construction, official data shows.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported that manufacturing also experienced strong employment growth, further contributing to the overall decrease.

The number of unemployed individuals fell by 77,000 to 2.11 million, marking a 3.5% decrease from 2023, while the total labour force expanded by 2.9% to 32.041 million.

CAPMAS’ annual labour force survey indicated that youth unemployment among those aged 15 to 29 dropped to 14.9%, a decline of 1 percentage point from the previous year. Within this age group, male unemployment stood at 9.8%, while the rate for females remained significantly higher at 37.1%.

Among teenagers aged 15 to 19, unemployment fell slightly to 12.2% from 12.4% in 2023. For young people with intermediate, higher, and university-level education, the rate dropped to 18.7%, compared to 20.3% the previous year.

“The number of entrepreneurs managing their own businesses reached 1.34 million, representing 4.2% of the total workforce,” the report stated.

Labour force participation remained higher in rural areas, with 17.96 million individuals compared to 14.07m in urban centres.

Urban unemployment declined to 9.6% from 9.9%, while rural unemployment dropped to 4.2% from 4.8%.

The share of unemployed individuals who had previously worked also fell, reaching 42.3% in 2024, down from 45.3% the year before, suggesting improvements in job retention. The number of employed individuals rose to 29.92 million, a 3.3% increase from 28.95m in 2023. Of these, 24.98 million were men and 4.93 million were women.

Employment remained more concentrated in rural areas, with 17.20 million workers compared to 12.72 million in urban settings.

Agriculture and fishing continued to dominate as the largest employment sectors, accounting for 5.59 million workers, or 18.7% of the total workforce. Wholesale and retail trade employed 4.63 million individuals, or 15.5% of the workforce, while the construction sector accounted for 4.04 million workers, or 13.5%.

The manufacturing sector saw a 5.4% rise in employment, reaching 3.94 million workers, or 13.2% of total employment.

Overall economic activity among those aged 15 and older rose to 44.2% in 2024, up from 43.4% the previous year.

Urban participation in economic activity grew to 44% from 42.7%, and rural participation edged up to 44.4% from 44%.