Egypt’s unemployment rate declined to 6.6 per cent in 2024, down 0.4pc 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 Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported that manufacturing also experienced strong employment growth, further contributing to the overall decrease.
The number of unemployed individuals fell by 77,000 to 2.11 million, marking a 3.5pc decrease from 2023, while the total labour force expanded by 2.9pc to 32.041m.
CAPMAS’ annual labour force survey indicated that youth unemployment among those aged 15 to 29 dropped to 14.9pc, a decline of 1 percentage point from the previous year. Within this age group, male unemployment stood at 9.8pc, while the rate for females remained significantly higher at 37.1pc.
Among teenagers aged 15 to 19, unemployment fell slightly to 12.2pc from 12.4pc in 2023. For young people with intermediate, higher, and university-level education, the rate dropped to 18.7pc, compared to 20.3pc the previous year.
“The number of entrepreneurs managing their own businesses reached 1.34m, representing 4.2pc of the total workforce,” the report stated.
Labour force participation remained higher in rural areas, with 17.96m individuals compared to 14.07m in urban centres.
Urban unemployment declined to 9.6pc from 9.9pc, while rural unemployment dropped to 4.2pc from 4.8pc.
The share of unemployed individuals who had previously worked also fell, reaching 42.3pc in 2024, down from 45.3pc the year before, suggesting improvements in job retention. The number of employed individuals rose to 29.92m, a 3.3pc increase from 28.95m in 2023. Of these, 24.98m were men and 4.93m were women.
Employment remained more concentrated in rural areas, with 17.20m workers compared to 12.72m in urban settings.
Agriculture and fishing continued to dominate as the largest employment sectors, accounting for 5.59m workers, or 18.7pc of the total workforce. Wholesale and retail trade employed 4.63m individuals, or 15.5pc of the workforce, while the construction sector accounted for 4.04m workers, or 13.5pc.
The manufacturing sector saw a 5.4pc rise in employment, reaching 3.94m workers, or 13.2pc of total employment.
Overall economic activity among those aged 15 and older rose to 44.2pc in 2024, up from 43.4pc the previous year.
Urban participation in economic activity grew to 44pc from 42.7pc, and rural participation edged up to 44.4pc from 44pc.
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