Is the Egyptian Economy Creating Good Jobs? Job Creation and Economic Vulnerability, 1998–2018
Ragui Assaad, Abdelaziz Alsharawy, Colette Salemi
Abstract
In terms of overall growth rates, by 2018 the Egyptian economy had rebounded from the slowdown it experienced as a result of the global financial crisis, the 2011 revolution and the revolution’s aftermath. In this chapter we explore whether the recovery in growth rates was accompanied by an improvement in the quantity, and especially the quality, of employment in Egypt. We examine how overall employment and job creation evolved and then delve into the composition of employment in terms of sector, formality, industry, location in and out of establishments and establishment size. We also examine aspects of job quality including skill requirements, regularity, paid leaves, health insurance, hours of work, and exposure to workplace hazards. We investigate workers’ satisfaction with various aspects of their jobs and how it changed over time and trace the evolution of underemployment in terms of involuntary part-time work and educational over-qualification.