Digital skills, gender, employment and wages in the Egyptian labor market

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the level of contribution of different levels of education to remaining in unemployment as well as the transition from unemployment to employment in Egypt.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, transition probabilities matrix differentiated by gender, age groups, educational levels, marital status and place of residence based on worker flows across employment, unemployment and out of labor force states during the period 2012–2018 using Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey of 2018. The results point to the highly static nature of the Egyptian labor market. Employment and the out of labor force states are the least mobile among labor market states. This is because employment state is very desirable and the out of labor force is the largest labor market states, especially for females. Also, this study examines the impact of different educational levels separately on remaining in unemployment and transition from unemployment to employment state using eight binary logistic regression models.FindingsThe main results of transitions from unemployment to employment are relatively large for males, elder-age, uneducated workers as well as workers who are not married and urban residents, and the results of the logistic regression models consistent with the transition probabilities matrix results, except for few cases. Based on the above findings, there is enough evidence to accept the null hypothesis that no education has a positive significant impact to transition unemployed individuals from unemployment to employment, while less than intermediate as well as higher education have a negative significant impact to transition unemployed individuals from unemployment to employment.Originality/valueThis paper proposes to address the problem of the unemployment among highly educated which is much higher compared with illiterates and try to understand the impact of different levels of education separately on the transition from unemployment to employment, to help the policymakers to eradicate the gap between education and the demand of the labor market in Egypt.

This chapter examines the insertion of youth into the Egyptian labor market and explores to what extent the school-to-work transition has changed over time (1988–2006). Young people are defined in this study as those aged between 15–29. The analysis of the youth labor market situation is of particular importance. The chapter also uses three comparable labor market surveys, namely the Labor Force Sample Survey 1988 (LFSS 1988), the Egyptian Labor Market Survey 1998 (ELMS 1998), and the very recent Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey 2006 (ELMPS 2006). It is shown that female participation decreased while male labor-force participation increased. Unemployment rates sharply decreased among both young men and women, especially among the 20–24-year-olds and the less educated. Unemployment rates substantially increased among post-secondary and university graduates, who became the group most vulnerable to unemployment. Education also played a key role in women's entry into the labor market. In general, the study has highlighted that Egyptian youth have experienced some improvements and some added difficulties to their efforts to enter the Egyptian labor market.

Technological Change and Its Impact on the Labor Market in Egypt

This paper proposes an empirical investigation of the effect of trade liberalisation on informal employment in Egypt. The effect of trade liberalisation on the informal sector has been widely discussed at both empirical and public policy levels but was never tested empirically in Egypt. Thus, combining a microeconomic data set (the Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey) with macroeconomic variables (tariffs), we try to assess to what extent trade reforms affected informal workers in Egypt. Our main findings show that trade liberalisation has reduced informal employment in Egypt. Such results remain unchanged under different robust testings.

1. The Evolution of Labor Supply and Unemployment in the Egyptian Economy: 1988-2012 2. The Structure and Evolution of Employment in Egypt: 1998-2012 3. Wages and Inequality in the Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Financial Crisis and Revolution 4. Patterns of Labor Market Insertion in Egypt, 1998-2012 5. Determinants of Unemployment Duration 6. Young People's Job Aspirations in Egypt and the Continued Preference for a Government Job 7. Education in Egypt: Improvements in Attainment, Problems with Quality and Inequality 8. Women's Participation in the Egyptian Labor Market: 1998-2012 9. Changes in the Institution of Marriage in Egypt: 1998-2012 10. Micro and Small Household Enterprises in Egypt: Potential for Growth and Employment Generation 11. Through the Keyhole: International Migration in Egypt 12. Job Accession, Separation and Mobility in the Egyptian Labor Market over the Past Decade 13. Duration to Coverage: Dynamics of Access to Social Security on the Egyptian Labor Market during the 1998-2012 Period

1. The Evolution of Labor Supply and Unemployment in the Egyptian Economy: 1988-2012 2. The Structure and Evolution of Employment in Egypt: 1998-2012 3. Wages and Inequality in the Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Financial Crisis and Revolution 4. Patterns of Labor Market Insertion in Egypt, 1998-2012 5. Determinants of Unemployment Duration 6. Young People's Job Aspirations in Egypt and the Continued Preference for a Government Job 7. Education in Egypt: Improvements in Attainment, Problems with Quality and Inequality 8. Women's Participation in the Egyptian Labor Market: 1998-2012 9. Changes in the Institution of Marriage in Egypt: 1998-2012 10. Micro and Small Household Enterprises in Egypt: Potential for Growth and Employment Generation 11. Through the Keyhole: International Migration in Egypt 12. Job Accession, Separation and Mobility in the Egyptian Labor Market over the Past Decade 13. Duration to Coverage: Dynamics of Access to Social Security on the Egyptian Labor Market during the 1998-2012 Period

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. The generation at the peak of the youth bulge, which was putting severe pressures on the labor market in the 1990s, has now completed its labor market transition, for the most part, and demographic pressures are easing. These demographic developments have been accompanied by important changes in the structure of the economy. While employment in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had begun to decline in the 1988-98 decade, employment in government was still growing rapidly during that period at about twice the rate of growth of overall employment. This has clearly changed in the 1998-06. Employment growth in the civil service has slowed dramatically and much of the burden of employment creation has shifted to the private sector. Concurrent with the decline of employment opportunities in the public sector, the trend toward informalization of the labor market, begun in the 1990s, is continuing unabated. By 2006, 61 percent of all employment was informal, up from 57 percent in 1998. Moreover, 75 percent of new entrants who entered the labor market in the first five years of this decade were entering into informal work.

ABSTRACTThis research studies the individual, households and community determinants affecting Egyptian woman’s decision to enter the labor force and affecting her employment status. Using the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey ELMPS, 2012, five probit models were estimated for ever-married women. The first model is about Egyptian women’s decision to participate in the labor force. Once she is in the labor force, the second model studies the determinants of being employed. Among employed women, three employment types are tackled in the remaining three models; being employed in the public sector (model 3), being a private wage worker (model 4) and being self-employed (model 5). As found in the literature, the results show that there is a strong dependence between woman’s education and employment type. Moreover, the results confirm the role played by the mother’s employment status in her daughter’s labor force participation. Finally, the community characteristics play a significant role in affecting women’s decision in entering the labor force. Once society accepts the integration of women in the labor market and not only being responsible for care and house work, individual characteristics and households characteristics influenced her decision of which employment type to choose.

This working paper investigates the dynamics and determinants of having access to social insurance coverage on the Egyptian labor market among wage and non-wage workers. The results show that men, older, married, better educated, and white collar highly skilled workers are more likely to have social insurance coverage. Access to social insurance is more likely to exist in the public sector and in large private enterprises. Furthermore, acquiring social insurance coverage in the private wage work sector does not often come at first entry; but it takes some time to gain such access. In contrast, experience is not important for acquiring social insurance coverage among non-wage workers. Underreporting insurable wages is negatively correlated with levels of education and labor market experience, and the likelihood of underreporting increases with monthly basic salary and years to retirement age.

This paper examines the impact of trade openness on job quality through the evolution of the shares of informal and irregular employment in total employment. In fact, Egypt has undertaken several liberalization waves and reforms of the labor market (1998-2012). Moreover, the economy has been subject to several events leading to a severe political instability which in turn affected production, exports, employment and employment conditions. Indeed, informal and irregular employments have exacerbated in the wake of the political turmoil of 2011. Thus, combining a microeconomic dataset (the Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey) with macroeconomic variables (tariffs), we try to assess to what extent trade reforms affected informal/irregular workers in Egypt. Our main findings show that there is a positive association between tariffs and both informal and irregular employments in Egypt. While the effect on informality is robust, the one on irregularity is not.

EVALUATING EMPLOYMENT POLICY PROGRAMS TO ALLEVIATE THE UNEMPLOYMENT: CASE STUDY OF EGYPT (In Arabic)

This paper investigates whether e-learning is a viable solution for higher education in Egypt under the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and policy responses to it. The analysis uses rich cross-sectional data from the 2018 wave of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey Body to assess what prerequisites for e-learning students and teachers meet in terms of technological capacities and digital skills. Overall, the paper confirms that Egyptian higher education largely meets those prerequisites. Over 90% of students have access to the internet, although not necessarily rapid or affordable access, and most students access the internet through mobile devices. Widespread computer and internet use, including using the latter for education purposes, suggest that students’ digital skills are generally well-developed. However, students’ technological capacities and digital skills reflect important divides along gender, socioeconomic background, and location. Finally, higher education teachers appear to be largely well-prepared as well, as most have access to digital devices and computers and three quarters of teachers already use the internet for their work. Based on these findings and a review of the regional literature, a set of policy recommendations for policy makers concludes.

This paper investigates the pattern of wages and wage inequality in Egypt over the period 1988-2012, a time of substantial economic and political changes, including the recent global financial crises and the January 25th 2011 revolution. This analysis is based on four nationally representative labor market surveys: the special round of the Egyptian Labor Force Sample Survey (LFSS) carried out in October 1988, the 1998 Egypt Labor Market Survey (ELMS), and the 2006 and 2012 rounds of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS). The analysis in the paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 introduces the main stylized facts and structural features of real wage and inequality in the Egyptian labor market during the recent liberalization episodes. Section 3 describes the wage determination model used in calculating wage differentials and returns to education. Section 4 discusses the wage estimation results, while focusing on public-private and gender wage gaps and changes in returns to education over the past decade. Finally, section 5 concludes and draws implications for the reform of the labor market in the wake of the financial crisis.

The paper focuses on a critical determinant, not only of females participating in the labor market but also of continuing in it: the opportunity cost of women’s participation in the labor market. It is believed that the opportunity cost for not working increases if the compensations consist of both wages and secured job conditions. The opportunity cost for not working decreases with the lack of secured conditions. Women with low compensations in terms of wages and secured conditions, their opportunity cost of not working decreases with marriage, which increases the probability of quitting the labor market. The target group in the paper is the males and females in Egypt aged between 18-64 years old, who have an intermediate or above educational degree, and are working as waged workers. The data used is from the 1998 ELMS (Egyptian labor market survey) and 2006 ELMPS (Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey), using the advantage of having subset panel sample in both years. The career mobility is measured, and the job-to-job turnover by gender is observed in the paper. Career development over eight years and the impact of different factors on the development are analyzed. Probit model with sample selection and Heckman selection model are used in the analyses. The importance of the results increases with the privatization trend in the Egyptian economy. Male and female private sector workers are in a more critical condition, and as the private sector expands and absorbs more of the new entrants, more attention should be paid to them. Those new entrants are challenged by the tradeoff between wages and job security. Those who fail in getting engaged in the public sector of all males and young females have a higher probability of ending up with low secured jobs. Low wages and low job security are the main reasons for a female to quit working, once she gets married.

Wage and labor mobility between public, formal private and informal private sectors in a developing country