CAIRO - Unemployment was one of the main reasons for the popular revolt that overthrew Mubarak's regime. Now that we have entered a new era, the Government has no other choice but to work as hard as it can to revive the economy and create new jobs. The New Egypt, since the January 25 revolution, has inherited heavy economic burdens from the former regime, with various economic and social crises strangling the country, says researcher Ahmed el-Sayyed el-Naggar of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Unemployment tops these problems, pushing millions of people into poverty and economic marginalisation. El-Naggar slams what he calls the 'contradiction of figures' on the unemployed and unemployment. For example, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a bulletin issued in October 2010 that 23 million Egyptians were employed, but in fact the figure was really 22.6 million, 400,000 fewer, out of a total workforce of 25.4 million nationwide. Thus, in 2009, about 2.8 million people were unemployed, not 2.38 million people as stated in the bulletin. Maybe it was a mere miscalculation and the CBE's intentions were good. Anyway, based on the correct figure, unemployment in 2009 stood at 14.4 per cent, not 9.4 per cent as the bulletin said. El-Naggar cited a 2010 World Bank report that put the total number of unemployed people in Egypt at 4 million or 15.4 per cent of the workforce, according to the report. He told el-Ahali Arabic daily that one of the biggest problems afflicting the Egyptian labour market is the bullying of employees by employers. For instance, 53 per cent of employed people in Egypt don't have any social insurance and could be fired at any time, with no pension. According to el-Naggar, the Government must do all it can to handle the problem and come up with balanced solutions, to avert destructive consequences at the economic, social and political levels. Restructuring public expenditure in a way that could create more jobs in agriculture, industry and real estate services would do much to reduce unemployment. There is also an urgent need for essential changes in the banking sector, so as to support small and medium borrowers and investors operating in this vital sector, in order to help meet the real needs of society, el-Naggar stressed. “Confining loans to a small number of capitalists was disastrous, as huge sums of money were smuggled abroad.” Another major part of the problem is that many people work but feel they're unemployed because their salaries are so low or they're lacking stability, according to a study prepared by the Information Centre of the Ministry of Labour. It added that 90 per cent of the Egyptian people want to leave the country, as they cannot find work. The Minister of Labour in the caretaker Government managing Egypt's affairs, Ahmed el-Borei, says that countering unemployment is a priority of his, adding that there are about 6.2 million civil servants in Egypt, when only 2.5 million are actually needed. This 'disguised unemployment' is a huge burden on the State budget and el-Borei vows urgent solutions in the near future. Minister of Finance Samir Radwan told a recent conference that, based on official statistics, 66 per cent of Egyptians are unemployed, of whom 98 per cent have never even had a job. Radwan stresses that unemployment and low wages are the core of the economic problem in Egypt. Unemployment among Egyptian males between 15-24 stands at 69.2 per cent, compared to 78 per cent among females, according to a report from the Arab Labour Organisation. Linking wages to prices is a key step for securing the minimum people need to lead a dignified life, according to Elhami el-Zayyat, an economic researcher at the Cabinet's Egyptian Association for Statistics and Legislation. El-Zayyat adds that raising the minimum wage is only effective if mechanisms for managing the mechanisms of the market and the economy are charged; if not, inflation will simply keep on soaring. “It's not about creating jobs, but about having jobs that give people their legal rights,” he stresses. “What is really required is more control over prices, reducing imports, amending the agricultural policy and enhancing productivity,” el-Zayyat told el-Ahali, describing unemployment as a time bomb and demanding urgent solutions. According to Professor of Law Niazi Moustafa, a labour consultant at the Workers' University, the real problem is lack of training and efficiency. He lays the blame on the gulf between education curricula and market needs. This also applies to vocational training, while lack of accurate data and a free flow of information is another problem.
