Official statistics agency CAPMAS announced Thursday that the national unemployment rate had fallen from 9.12 percent of the population in the first quarter of this year to 8.9 percent in the second quarter, averaging 11.7 percent in urban areas and 6.9 percent in rural areas.
According to the agency, some 2.3 million Egyptians currently lack employment, of whom 94.3 percent hold high school and university degrees. The agency also noted that 88.8 percent of the nation's unemployed were between 15 and 29 years old.
CAPMAS went on to point out that the national labor force currently stood at some 26.2 million people, constituting 33.5 percent of Egypt's total population.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
