The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced on Tuesday the results of its labour force survey for the first quarter (Q1) of 2018, stating that unemployment fell to 10.6% of the total labour force compared to 11.3% in Q4 2017.

According to the CAPMAS, that quarter witnessed both a decrease in the labour force and in the number of unemployed persons.

The CAPMAS explained that the unemployment rate decreased by 1.4% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

It also stated that the labour force was estimated at 29.186 million workers, which means a decrease of 86,000, equivalent to 0.3%, compared to Q4 2017, and an increase of 37,000 people, or 0.1%, when compared to the same quarter of last year.

On the other hand, the number of unemployed persons stood at 3.094 million, representing 10.6% of the total force, a decrease of 6.5% from Q4 2017 and 11.7% compared to the same quarter of 2017.

In terms of the gender of the unemployed, the report stated that 7.3% of the unemployed were men in Q1 2018, down from 7.8% in Q4 2017, while 22% were women, down from 23.3% in Q4 2017.

“The percentage of unemployed youth (15-29 years old) was 75.2% of the total unemployment rate,” according to the report.

Concerning the place of residence, the CAPMAS revealed that the urban unemployment rate reached 12.1% of the total urban labour force, versus 12.9% in Q4 2017.

Meanwhile, the rural unemployment rate was 9.5% of the total rural labour force in Q1 2018, down from 10.1% in Q4 2018.

The percentage of unemployed persons with intermediate, upper-intermediate, and higher education degrees were 87.7%.

Meanwhile, the number of the employed persons (workers) reached 26.092 million, an increase of 0.5% compared to Q4 2017, and an increase of 1.7% over the same quarter of the previous year.

The report explained that the percentage of those receiving cash wages represented 68.9% of the total labour force, while the number of business owners represented 11.4% of the total employment rate.

The CAPMAS also stated that the number of self-employed persons represented 12% of the total employment rate, and the number of employees contributing to work on family projects without pay represented 7.7% of all employed persons.

“The unemployment rate in 2017 fell to 11.8% from 12.5% in 2016,” according to the CAPMAS.

The CAPMAS is the official statistical agency of Egypt that collects, processes, analyses, and disseminates statistical data, and conducts the census.