Labor Supply, Employment And Unemployment In The Egyptian Economy, 1988-2006

This paper analyzes data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey of 2006 (ELMPS 06) and its predecessor surveys from 1988 and 1998 to reveal that the employment outlook in Egypt has broadly improved since 1998. Despite continued rapid growth of the working age population since 1998, overall participation rates have increased, unemployment rates have decreased, and employment growth has been robust. In many instances, the levels of these variables have returned to or exceeded their levels in 1988, prior to the initiation of the 1991 stabilization and structural adjustment programs. The performance of the labor market in Egypt in the past eight years has been helped by favorable demographic as well as economic developments.