CAIRO: The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported this month the results of research conducted by the Ministry of Manpower for the second quarter of 2010, according to International Labor Organization ( ILO) standards, which revealed a decline in the rate of unemployment during this period to 8.96 percent, while it had amounted to 9.12 percent during the preceding quarter and 9.42 percent during the same quarter of 2009. The agency confirmed a decline in the number of unemployed by 2.347 million, or 1.7 percent, from the previous quarter. According to Hossam Shokry, a researcher at the ministry, the signs of overall economic growth are beginning to take hold in Egypt. “We believe that this trend of decline in unemployment is a sign that Egypt is achieving overall growth, including in the middle and lower classes,” he told Bikya Masr. The CAPMAS statement also pointed to the low rate of unemployment in urban areas to 11.7 percent, while it had recorded 12.5 percent in the previous quarter. “The results revealed that the highest percentage of unemployed graduates with intermediate education level and university level and above increased by 94.3 percent of the total unemployed,” the report did reveal. The percentage of unemployed young people aged between 15-29 years-old was at 88.8 percent of the total unemployed, and 53.2 percent for the age group 20-24 years, and 24.4 percent for the age group 25-29 years-old. The agency noted the increase in the number of the labor force to 26.201 million people for the current quarter, an increase of 15 thousand per capita of 0.6 percent, compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 1.157 million per capita of 4.6 percent for the same quarter compared with the previous year. BM
