1.32 M Egyptians Worked Abroad In 2014: CAPMAS

Egypt’s state statistics body, CAPMAS, has said 1.32 million Egyptians were in official employment abroad in 2014, a slight increase from 2013.

Unemployment in Egypt, with a pouplation of 90 million and a workforce nearing 28 million, hit a peak of 13.4 percent in first quarter of 2014 before declining to 12.7 percent in the first quarter of the current year.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who took office in June of last year, pledged to curb Egypt’s stark youth unemployment rate that recently hit 26 percent.

The rise in numbers of Egyptians issued permits to work abroad to 1.32 million in 2014 from 1.30 million in 2013 represents an increase of 1.5 per cent.

Saudi Arabia remains the top Arab destination for Egyptian workers on permanent contracts, according to official statistics.

Some 648,000 work permits were handed to Egyptians to work in the oil-rich country, a figure which represents 50.7 percent of the overall number of work permits issued to Egyptians by Arab countries.

Italy, the top European destination for Egyptian expat labour, issued 23,000 work permits to Egyptian workers, at 76,6 percent of the total number of permits issued by European countries.

CAPMAS said 42.8 percent of migrants had mid-level education, constituting the majority of Egyptians seeking unemployment abroad.

Source: Ahram Online