Extreme discrimination: The title of the labor market in Egypt

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The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics admitted that Egypt’s labor market is dominated by “severe inequality.” This statement coincides with the anniversary of the International Day of Decent Work, which falls on October 7 of each year.This disparity includes women versus men and government and public business sector workers versus private-sector workers. The labor market’s contribution is the labor force attributed to the population of 15 years and over.

Women’s contribution is less than a quarter of that of men in the labor market. Apart from the gender standard, the difference in employment sustainability is clear between the government sector, the public business sector, and the private sector. For example, the percentage of permanent workers in the government sector recorded the highest rate of 98.3%, followed by workers in the public sector and public business 95%. In comparison, the private sector recorded the lowest percentage of permanent workers (outside establishments) at 23.9%. The percentage of workers participating in social insurance reached 71.2% among females, compared to 40.8% for males, which can be explained by the concentration of women in government work in general, which is the sector in which the percentage of those with social security is high.

There is a massive disparity between workers in the government sector, the public sector, and public businesses on the one hand, and workers in the private sector (outside establishments) in terms of enjoying social security. Also, the percentage of workers involved in health insurance in the government sector was 96.6% of the total wage earners, followed by those working in the public sector and public businesses at 90.5%, compared to 25.7% among workers in the private sector (inside establishments).

The private sector (outside establishments) recorded the lowest percentage of workers participating in health insurance, as the percentage was 2.1% of the total wage earners in this sector. The disparity is highest in the percentage of workers with a legal contract, as the percentage of workers with a legal contract in the government sector reached 99%, followed by workers in the public sector and public businesses 96.3%, compared to 29.3% among workers in the private sector (inside establishments), reaching the lowest levels among workers In the private sector (outside establishments), where it is 1.3% of the total wage workers in this sector. In contrast to the above, the verse is reflected concerning the average number of weekly working hours, which reach their highest levels among workers in the private sector (inside establishments), reaching 50.6 hours. The public sector follows this and public business with 45.0 hours, while this average drops to 41.7 hours in the government sector.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, there are 110.4 thousand women specialized in legislation, managers, and senior officials in Egypt, most of them in the agricultural and trade sectors, out of a total of 2.704 million officials. At the level of Egypt, 67% of female workers believe that they work an equal number of hours with their male colleagues at work, while only 16% find themselves working longer hours. 50% of women say they are paid equal to men, and 30% feel paid less. 31% of women find that the chances of getting a promotion are lower because of their gender. In comparison, 55% think that promotion depends on experience and work, and 58% of the respondents ruled out having any benefits at work based on their gender. 48% of women believe that getting a job depends on experience and performance and does not depend on gender, while 24% think they have fewer chances of being women. This comes when the unemployment crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing the Egyptian economy, in light of the continuous growth of the population and the inadequacy of the various education systems to the labor market requirements.

According to official data, the telecommunications sector emerged as the most employing sector for new graduates, with a relative weight of 20%, followed by the advertising, marketing, public relations sector 18%, and the banking, finance, and retail sectors 17%. An opinion poll says that 63% of the sample believes that Egypt’s government sector is attractive, while 27% remain neutral, and 14% believe that working in the government is not a goal. Simultaneously, 45% of the respondents are considering changing their jobs, 35% are still not sure, and only 20% do not want a change. The government aims to reduce unemployment rates to levels from 10-11% by the end of the next fiscal year after it has now fallen to 10.6%. The companies operating in Egypt see that administrative skills, sales, and marketing are the ideal competencies that they are always looking for.