Arab Countries Groan of Unemployment

A report made in 2020 predicted that in 2021 the percentage of unemployment in Arab countries will rise 12.5%.

The highest percentage goes to Palestine (31%), Libya (22%), Tunisia, and Jordan (21%).

Unemployment and poverty percentage has increased in the Arab region in 2021 due to Corona fallout

Mentioned in the survey these predictions of economic and social developments in the Arab region, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) publish annually.

According to the report, the pandemic has affected the entire world, especially in the economic aspects, while the Arab region faces two possible scenarios.

The first scenario expected the end of the crisis and the return of the economy to momentum in the first quarter of 2021.

And the second tends to be pessimistic who expects the crisis to continue during the first quarter of 2021.

According to the first optimistic economic scenario, there is an expectation of a 3.5 % growth rate.

On the other hand, the other less optimistic scenario is where growth is limited to 2.8%.

Countries ‘ ability to respond to the covid-19 pandemic will determine their future path. Which in 2020 caused the region to lose nearly 140 $ billion to achieve a negative growth rate of 1.3%.

While it is difficult to analyze the economic situation in a world still plagued by pandemic outbreaks, there is no doubt that the impact of the pandemic will extend throughout 2021 and beyond.

According to ESCWA, understanding the ways Arab countries deal with the effects of the economic pandemic is critical.

The report warns that while positive growth rates are expected in both scenarios, this is insufficient to create the necessary decent jobs.

Unemployment in the Arab region is likely to rise to 12.5% in 2021, with the highest rates in Palestine (31%) and Libya (22%).

In Tunisia and Jordan, unemployment is above 21%.

The GCC countries record unemployment rates of around 5.8%. The expectation of an increase in the region’s exports of 10.4% in 2021, up from a 50% drop last year.

The report indicates that the group of Arab middle-income countries will have the highest growth rates in the region, at 5%.

According to the optimistic scenario, and 4.1%, according to the less optimistic scenario, while the growth rate in the GCC is between 2.3 and 2.1%.

The least developed countries will have the lowest growth rates and will not exceed 0.5 or 0.4%.

Unemployment in Egypt rises to 7.4% in first quarter 2021

The central agency for public mobilization and statistics in Egypt announced the results of the labor force research for the first quarter (January – March) of 2021.

The unemployment rate reached 7.4% of the total labor force compared to 7.2% in the fourth quarter of 2020, an increase of 0.2% and a decrease of 0.3% comparing to the last year.

This increase is due to the second wave of coronavirus, which began in January 2021, the beginning of the data collection period, and consequently, the number of operators decreased.

Workforce size in egypt

The estimated workforce size decrease 2.3%. Recently estimated to number 29,284 million workers compared to 29,965 million during the previous quarter.

The urban workforce was 13,034 million, while the rural workforce was 16,250 million.

At the gender level, the male workforce was 24.185 million and the female workforce was 5.099 million.

What is the cause of the decline?

Due to a decline in both the number of workers and the number of unemployed. The state took some precautionary measures and issued a decision to reduce the number of workers with the start of the second wave of the corona pandemic.

What is the number of the unemployed citizens?

The number of unemployed registered 2,155 million unemployed by 7.4% of the total workforce (1,343 million males, 812000 females) compared to 2,166 million unemployed in the fourth quarter 2020.

Jordan is also moaning of unemployment

One in 4 Jordanians became unemployed, representing a rise in the kingdom’s unemployment rate in the first quarter of this year to about 25 % due to the coronavirus pandemic, negatively affecting most labor sectors.

During the first quarter of this year, the male unemployment rate was 24.2 %versus 28.5 % for females.

So, the male unemployment rate increased by 6.1 % points while the female rate increased by 4.2 % points compared to the first quarter of last year.

The results showed that the unemployment rate was high among university degree holders at 27.8 %.

Jordan is suffering mainly from difficult economic conditions exacerbated by restrictions and closures due to the corona pandemic. While the poverty rate, according to official figures in Jordan in autumn 2020, is about 15.7 %.

Jordan’s public debt exceeded $47 billion, accounting for more than 106 percent of GDP.