The unemployment rate declined slightly during the third quarter (Q3) of this year, reaching 11.9% of the total workforce, compared to 11.98% in Q2 and 12.6% in Q3 2016, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). The agency explained in a recent report that Q3 2017, which ended in September, witnessed an influx of large numbers of graduates from universities, higher institutes, and medium and technical diplomas to the labour market, who were outside the workforce in Q2 as students. According to CAPMAS, the workforce reached 29.472 million individuals at the end of Q3, up by 289,000 individuals, 1% higher than Q2. This was also up by 652,000 (2.3%) from Q3 2016. It also explained that the number of unemployed individuals during Q3 2017 reached 3.513 million (11.9%) of the total workforce. This is down about 17,000 individuals (0.5%) from Q2, but down 127,000 (3.5%) from Q3 2016. Moreover, unemployment among males reached 8.2% of the total workforce in Q3 2017, compared to 8.22% in Q2 and 8.7% in Q3 2016. Meanwhile, unemployment among females dipped slightly to 24.4% in Q3 this year, compared to 24.68% in Q2 2017 and 25.9% of Q3 2016. CAPMAS noted that unemployed youth between 15 and 29 years old amounted to 79.5% of the total unemployed rate, adding that the unemployment rate in urban areas reached 13.6%, while it was 10.6% in rural areas. Unemployed people with intermediate, above intermediate, university and higher degrees reached 92.9% of total unemployed people. Furthermore, the total number of employed individuals at the end of Q3 reached 25.959 million, up by 272,000 (1.1%) from Q2 of the same year, and 779,000 (3.1%) more than Q3 2016. The report also stated that the number of employed youth registered 20.884 million, which marks a 0.9% (179,000) increase from Q2 2017 and 2.8% (563,000) up from Q3 2016. On the other hand, the number of female workers reached 5.115 million. This is 93,000 (1.9%) higher than Q2 2017 and 216,000 (4.4%) more than Q3 2016. Agriculture, forestry, logging, and fishing attracted a total of 312,000 workers in Q3 2017, while wholesale, retail, and vehicle repair activities accounted for 147,000 employees. In third rank came transport and storage activities, which attracted 88,000 more workers, followed by transformative industries, whcih attracted 47,000 new workers. In addition, CAPMAS noted that the number of workers receiving cash wages reached 17.707 million (68.2%) in Q3 2017, while the number of business owners reached 2.623 million (10.1%). The number of self-employed individuals amounted to 3.360 million (12.9%) and the number of employees in family businesses without wages reached 2.269 million (8.8%). CAPMAS stated that agriculture and fishing activities have accounted for the largest share of employees in economic activity, with 5.558 million individuals engaged in both activities, accounting for 21.4% of the total workforce. It added that the activity of wholesale and retail trade came in second place, where the number their employees amounted to 3.497 million (13.5%) and the number of workers in construction activity reached 3.463 million (13.3%). Finally, the number of people engaged in manufacturing industries reached 3.254 million (12.5%) and transport and storage activities workers reached 2.071 million (8%) of the total workforce.
