Egypt's unemployment rate remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2013 at 13.4 percent of a labour force of 27.3 million people, according to state-run statistics body CAPMAS. Unemployment among young people aged 15-29 hit 69 percent of the labour force in the last quarter of 2013. More than 82 percent of them hold diplomas and university degrees. The CAPMAS quarterly report released on Monday said that the persistence of the high unemployment rate reflects an ongoing slowdown in economic activities. The growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the period of July-September 2013 fell to 1.6 percent compared to the same period the previous year, when the growth rate stood at 2.6 percent. Minister of Investment Osama Saleh said in September that the high unemployment was due the political turmoil and economic shocks egypt has been experiencing since the January 2011 uprising, which ended the 30-year-rule of autocratic president Hosni Mubarak. The unemployment rate was also high before the 2011, however, at 8.9 percent in the last quarter of 2010. Since then the number of the unemployed increased by 1.3 million to 3.65 million people in the last quarter of 2013. The unemployment rate among male workers reached 10 percent, while among females it was 25 percent, CAPMAS said. Urban areas experienced a modest rise in unemployment rate to 17.6 percent as compared to 16.7 percent in the previous quarter. Unemployment in rural areas shrunk to 10.1 percent from 10.8 percent in the previous quarter. Source : Ahram online
