Egypt's unemployment rate slightly declined to 12.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 (Q4/2016) from 12.6 percent in the previous quarter (Q3/2016), the country's official statistics agency CAPMAS said in a statement on wednesday.

 

Year on year, the unemployment rate declined from the 12.77 percent registered in Q4/2015.

According to the statement, the number of unemployed Egyptians reached 3.59 million in Q4/2016 down by 49,000 from the quarter before.

The total labour force in this period increased by 0.9 percent to reach 29.1 million.

CAPMAS stated that unemployment among men in Q4/2016 reached 8.5 percent and 25.3 percent among women.

Unemployment in the age group 15-29 amounted to 79.1 percent out of the total number of jobless in Q4/2016 down from 79.8 in Q3/2016.

According to CAPMAS, unemployment in urban areas registered 14 percent compared to 11.1 percent unemployment rate in rural areas

Source: Ahram online