CAIRO: Unemployment rates in Egypt have slightly dropped from 8.9 percent to 8.4 percent, according to a new report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). The Egyptian labor force increased from 23.6 million to 24.6 million with the number of males joining the work force increasing by 4.1 percent, compared to a 4.9 percent increase in females. The total male unemployment rate reached 5.4 percent versus female unemployment at 18.8 percent. Other statistics placed the unemployed rate in the 15-29 age bracket at over 90 percent, with around 86 percent of the unemployed having intermediate and graduate academic degrees. Mohamed Morsy, director at CAPMAS, told Daily News Egypt that more in depth information, such as the qualifications and degrees that these 86 percent have, were not included in the research. He explained that such information would be obtained through other studies particularly commissioned and funded by other government ministries and private sector firms, carried out over time intervals of their choice. However, Ahmed El Naggar, an economist at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, criticized the quality of some of the statistics obtained, describing them as irrelevant and in some cases inaccurate. He explained that the classification of part-time workers and those who have worked before but are currently unemployed may affect the statistics' accuracy and relevance. Morsy on the other hand, told Daily News Egypt that all the studies and research are conducted in accordance with internal and external NGOs and agencies such as the United Nations' International Labor Organization. He said that CAPMAS is obliged to follow international research standards. El Naggar also criticized the fact that the statistics that showed rural areas having lower unemployment rates than urban areas, saying they failed to explain that many of these jobs are part of greater cases of underemployment and hidden unemployment (a practice prevalent at government offices were for example 10 people are hired to do the job of four.) However, he admitted that some of the data collected was "more accurate than usual with respect to the high rates of unemployed youth and qualified individuals. El Naggar called for more independent and reliable studies to be carried out in order to realize the full scope and severity of the implications of the unemployment problem and effectively combat it.
