First ever minimum wage for Egypt’s private sector workers set at around LE2400 per month

Egypt’s government set a national minimum wage for workers in the private sector for the first time on Monday. 

Beginning January 2022, private sector employers must pay workers a baseline wage of no less than LE2,400 per month (US$153), plus a minimum monthly bonus of LE60 ($3.80), meaning that workers should not receive less than $157.80 per month in total. 

The rate was agreed upon by six members of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation and six representatives from various business organizations, according to Hanan Nazir, the head of the Planning Ministry body that made the decision on Monday. Nazir said the minimum wage will be binding for all private sector establishments.

If an employer does not implement the minimum wage, workers will be able to submit complaints to a body under the National Council for Wages, which will be able to intervene, in coordination with the Manpower Ministry, Nazir told Mada Masr.

Meanwhile, organizations anticipating that they will struggle to pay minimum wage will have until October to apply for exemption from the rule, said Magdy al-Badawy, vice president of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation. He explained that concerned companies should first file their exemption request with the Cabinet, which will in turn refer their cases to the relevant local directorates of the Manpower Ministry.  

Although around 78 percent of Egypt’s labor force is employed in the private sector, 76 percent of those jobs are in the unregulated, informal private sector. Employment in the non-oil private sector has also contracted for 19 consecutive months, though the rate of contraction has slowed in recent months. 

The IHS Markit Purchasing Managers' Index has reported that private sector activity excluding the oil sector grew in only five of the 36 months from July 2016 to June 2019.

The same minimum wage is to be enforced in the public sector beginning July 1.