Unemployment dips to 12.7 percent in second quarter

The official unemployment rate fell to 12.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015, down from 12.8 percent last quarter.

This is the lowest figure reported since September 2012, when the state statistics agency CAPMAS reported 12.5 percent unemployment.

In the same quarter last year, unemployment was at 13.3 percent.

Unemployment shot up as the economy faltered after the January 25, 2011 revolution, rising from 8.9 percent on the eve of the revolution to peak at 13.4 percent at the end of 2014.

Youth have been hit particularly hard. According to a recent CAPMAS report, 26.3 percent of youths aged 18-29 were out of work in 2014. Millions more work in the informal sector and are not factored into unemployment figures.

Abu Bakr al-Gendy, head of state statistics agency CAPMAS, attributes the fall in joblessness this year to “improved economic activity,” the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. Large national projects, such as the recently completed Suez Canal expansion and the million-unit housing project, are responsible for much of the job creation, Gendy added. The tourism industry has also seen a slight uptick in hiring.

The country showed strong economic growth in the first two quarters of fiscal year 2014/15, with an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.6 percent, but slowed down as the fiscal year drew to a close, reaching 3 percent in the quarter ending in March 2015.

A recent survey of the non-oil private sector indicated a hiring decrease in July.