- Title: EGYPT: Unemployment challenges ahead for the next Egyptian president
- Date: 24th May 2014
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (MARCH 9, 2014) (REUTERS) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AND EGYPTIAN MILITARY OFFICIALS SIGNING ECONOMIC DEAL VARIOUS OF AUDIENCE SEATED FOR SIGNING OF THE DEAL UAE AND EGYPTIAN MILITARY OFFICIALS SHAKING HANDS AFTER SIGNING DEAL
- Embargoed: 8th June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Economy,Employment,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVABBCPV4UV3WOWRBTYQ6QRGSRO8
- Story Text: Unemployment is one of the main problems set to face the winner of Egypt's presidential election, which starts on Monday (May 26).
Egypt's former military chief, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is widely expected to win the vote.
But the country's unemployment crisis could make or break his presidency. The 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak was largely fuelled by anger at the grim prospects facing young Egyptians unable to find work, afford their own home and get married. Since then, as foreign investors and tourists shied away from the country of 85 million, the job crisis has only got worse.
Ammar Aly claims to have been unemployed for 15 years. He wants the next president to prioritise finding a solution for the youth unemployment problem.
"I swear there is not work. I hope that the next president that we want to take charge would pay attention to the youth that have no income, the rent and those who have three, four or even five children. We do not go out in protests; those who go out in protest want an increase in salary. What about those who have no income? We only have God and this country," said Aly.
Another jobless man, Al-Sayed Rizk, says pay rates on offer aren't sufficient.
"Currently, there is no work at all. One day I work the other I don't. There are limited opportunities and even the day you work is not sufficient to cover your own daily costs," Rizk said.
But solutions should not be difficult to find, according to the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR).
"Unemployment will be solved by easy means. There has to be an economy that wants to employ the youth. These youth are not like what the regime propagates, that they do not want to work or are being picky. These youth want to work. No young person wants to graduate and stay unemployed. The next president has to adopt a different policy that supports the economy, creates projects, builds factories and creates true development where the youth could work. Then the unemployment problem will be solved. It is a burden that increases everyday, when it is ignored it gets larger," said Dalia Moussa, the head of ECESR's labourers unit.
Since ousting the former President Mohamed Mursi from power last year, the Egyptian army has turned its substantial economic firepower towards unemployment, announcing that it was offering vocational training to jobseekers. The United Arab Emirates is bankrolling the scheme, which aims to train 100,000 youths in skills needed by industry.
"The good thing is that now we will have more numbers of trainees because we have more funds. Also we can increase the cost, we can pay more to get more quality from the training of our young people," said Mahmoud El-Sherbiny, who heads a governmental industrial training scheme.
"It is going to be a huge political problem if they don't find those young people a decent job. That's why also, I believe, it is a big reason for the government now thinking of that dimension that they do not want to be faced with another revolution in the next year or so," Sherbiny added.
According to official rates, more than 13 percent of the Egyptian workforce is unemployed. This figure, higher than the 8.9 percent on the eve of the 2011 revolt, masks the wider problem of underemployment in a low-wage economy. Official figures rarely tell the full story in a country where much business activity goes under the radar. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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