Salonaz Sami discovers that the first union for the unemployed tallies the problems of the jobless, but fails to offer solutions On 14 December, the unlicensed Egyptian Union for the Unemployed (EUU) held its first conference at the downtown headquarters of the Kifaya movement. The three-hour conference was co-sponsored by the Egyptian Centre for the Reduction of Unemployment and Defending Human Rights, but failed to attract much of an audience. The turn out for the conference paled in comparison to the gravity of its central topic, raising doubts about EUU's ability to promote its cause. The nascent EUU has yet to decide on its funding, organisational structure and legal status. As keen as the founders and members of the Union are on finding solutions to Egypt's most challenging problem, their main objective remains "to expose the gravity of the problem and the regime's failure to embark on practical measures to overcome it," explained EUU member Abdel-Samad Al-Sharkawy. The organisation criticised the government for pretending that overpopulation is the main cause of unemployment, rather than its own failure to provide jobs. "Other overpopulated countries such as India and Malaysia were able to deal with the problem differently," said Al-Sharkawy. India, for example, has a population of more than a billion yet only 3.5 million are unemployed. According to Sayed Ragab, general coordinator of the conference, the main reason behind a weak job market is not overpopulation, but the government's inability to improve it. "The government has used the wrong approach in dealing with unemployment and invested economic growth for the benefit of businessmen and the well- to-do, rather than to meet the needs of those who really deserve assistance," noted Ragab. He further accused the government of "hiding the real statistics about unemployment in order to downplay the gravity of the problem." While the rate of unemployment remains high among third world countries, figures in Egypt are most alarming. According to the latest Egyptian Human Development Report issued by the UNDP, nine per cent of men are unemployed while 19.8 per cent of women suffer the same. Regardless of the accuracy of these figures, stated Ragab, the fact remains that the government should "exert all effort to strike at the heart of the problem". He continued that the most striking fact is that the majority of the unemployed are between the ages of 15 and 40, which "are mostly the educated youth of the country." Last week's conference did not propose solutions for the jobless, but focused on highlighting how frustrated they are and the state's failure to appease them. "The conference is just an attempt to find a solution to one of Egypt's most critical problems through studying it from different angles, exposing the measures taken by the regime whether positive or negative, and conducting studies and projects aimed at assisting those in need," said Union member Mohamed Atta, 28, who is unemployed. Atta explained to Al-Ahram Weekly that unemployment reflects corruption in all its forms, where there are "unqualified people occupying jobs they don't deserve only because they are connected to this or that official, leaving those who have studied and worked hard jobless and frustrated at this injustice." Hence, the idea of creating EUU to expose, explain and reflect on the problem from all and any angles. "We need to show the state that unless they handle the issue practically, crime rates will not go down anytime soon," predicted Ragab. "Not even with all the security forces deployed around the country." He added that theft and homicide crimes, for example, increased by 20 per cent over the past ten years due to unemployment. The conference's general coordinator further added that high rates of unemployment have an immense impact on all social, political and economic levels. "Newspapers write about frustrated youth who commit suicide everyday because they can't find a job or lost a job to someone with better connections," he said. "And those who don't commit suicide usually suffer depression resulting from their feeling of dependency on their families. They end up accepting degrading jobs with conditions closer to slavery than real work." The EUU is launcing a research project across the country to survey the various problems resulting from unemployment, in order to better understand the needs of the jobless and how to assist them. In conclusion, the conference recommended the creation of a database with the names, numbers, education background and skills of the unemployed; another for the businessmen who can and are willing to help; as well as holding an annual Employment Fair in coordination with non- governmental associations and organisations. EUU members also plan to form groups which participate in social programmes which encourage small projects, as well as ensure the state's support of these projects. The conference further suggested that the Union closely monitor the performance of the government, to ensure it follows a comprehensive developmental strategy towards achieving economic growth which serves the majority of its citizens.
