Egypt's unemployment rate inched downwards to 12.5 percent in the second quarter of 2016 from 12.7 percent in the quarter before, official statistics agency CAPMAS announced on Monday in an e-mailed statement. According to the statement, the number of unemployed people reached 3.6 million from April to June 2016. The total labour force increased in the quarter by 153,000 or 0.6 percent compared to the previous quarter to reach 25 million people. The Egyptian government says it aims to reduce the jobless rate in the 91-million nation to less than 10 percent by the end of the fiscal year 2018/19 based on a targeted growth rate in the economy of at least 6 percent. The CAPMAS statement highlighted that unemployment among females in Q2 was 25.6 percent compared to 25.7 percent in the first three months of the year, while unemployment among males dropped to 8.5 percent compared to 8.9 percent. Unemployment in the age group 15-29 amounted to 79.8 percent out of the total number of jobless. Urban unemployment fell to 14.1 percent from 15.2 percent in the first quarter, while in rural areas, the joblessness increased to 11.2 percent from a previous 10.9 percent.
