RIYADH: Egypt’s unemployment rate declined to 6.6 percent in 2024, down 0.4 percent from the previous year, driven by lower joblessness across both urban and rural areas and by growth in sectors such as agriculture, retail, and construction, official data shows.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics reported that employment in the manufacturing sector ticked up, further contributing to the overall decrease.
The number of unemployed individuals fell by 77,000 to 2.11 million, marking a 3.5 percent decrease from 2023, while the total labor force expanded by 2.9 percent to 32.041 million.
CAPMAS’s annual labor force survey indicated that youth unemployment among those aged 15 to 29 dropped to 14.9 percent, a decline of 1 percentage point from the previous year. Within this age group, male unemployment stood at 9.8 percent, while the rate for females remained significantly higher at 37.1 percent.
Among teenagers aged 15 to 19, unemployment fell slightly to 12.2 percent from 12.4 percent in 2023. For young people with intermediate, higher, and university-level education, the rate dropped to 18.7 percent, compared to 20.3 percent the previous year.
“The number of entrepreneurs managing their own businesses reached 1.34 million, representing 4.2 percent of the total workforce,” the report stated.
Labor force participation remained higher in rural areas, with 17.96 million individuals compared to 14.07 million in urban centers. Gender disparities persisted, with males accounting for 26.08 million of the labor force and females 5.96 million.
Urban unemployment declined to 9.6 percent from 9.9 percent, while rural unemployment dropped to 4.2 percent from 4.8 percent.
Among males, the urban joblessness rate stood at 6.3 percent, compared to 2.6 percent in rural areas. For females, the figures were notably higher, at 21.8 percent in urban regions and 12.4 percent in rural zones, where greater engagement in agriculture helped boost employment.
The share of unemployed individuals who had previously worked also fell, reaching 42.3 percent in 2024, down from 45.3 percent the year before, suggesting improvements in job retention.
The number of employed individuals rose to 29.92 million, a 3.3 percent increase from 28.95 million in 2023. Of these, 24.98 million were men and 4.93 million were women.
Employment remained more concentrated in rural areas, with 17.20 million workers compared to 12.72 million in urban settings.
Agriculture and fishing continued to dominate as the largest employment sectors, accounting for 5.59 million workers, or 18.7 percent of the total workforce. Wholesale and retail trade employed 4.63 million individuals, or 15.5 percent of the workforce, while the construction sector accounted for 4.04 million workers, or 13.5 percent.
The manufacturing sector saw a 5.4 percent rise in employment, reaching 3.94 million workers, or 13.2 percent of total employment.
Overall economic activity among those aged 15 and older rose to 44.2 percent in 2024, up from 43.4 percent the previous year. Male participation remained substantially higher at 70.3 percent, while female participation increased modestly to 16.9 percent.
Urban participation in economic activity grew to 44 percent from 42.7 percent, and rural participation edged up to 44.4 percent from 44 percent.
