The government has admitted that the number of unemployed persons in Egypt has increased over the past few months. According to a report by the Ministry of Economic Development, Egyptians have fewer job opportunities both overseas and in the domestic private sector. A report on economic performance for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2009/2010 said the number of unemployed persons has risen to 2.37 million. Jobs provided by employment offices have increased, while jobs offered by the private sector, the investment sector and recruitment agencies that provide employment opportunities abroad declined sharply, the report added. According to the report, employment offices alone provided 53 percent of total job opportunities in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, up from 27 percent in the same period last year. Job opportunities created by the private and investment sectors during the same period have slipped to 35 percent compared to 60 percent in the previous year. The report also stated that the percentage of Egyptian overseas labor had dropped to 10.9 percent-- or 11,000 Egyptians--down from 13 percent in the previous year. Bassant Fahmi, consultant to the Egyptian-Saudi Finance Bank, said the decline in job opportunities was due to higher education standards overseas. Fahmi also added that migrant workers from Southeast Asia and China have become strong competitors to Egyptian labor in the Gulf. As a result, remittances from expatriate Egyptians have declined to US$1.8 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, compared to US$1.9 billion during the same period last year. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
