It’s been a tough year for the job market, no question. Many companies downsized to bootstrap for the repercussions of the outbreak and the brand new recession, and even more companies shut down altogether. The Egyptian Ministry of Finance released a report illustrating which sectors were affected the most during the pandemic. It mentioned that about 2.3 million Egyptians lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

According to the report, 28% of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic work in wholesale and retail trade, compared to 25% in the manufacturing sector, 21% in food and accommodation services, 14% in transport and storage, in addition to 13% in construction.

The unemployment rate reached its highest level in two years at 9.6% in the second quarter of 2020 due to the pressures imposed by the pandemic on business conditions, compared to 7.7% in the first quarter of the same year.

The number of unemployed during the last quarter of the last fiscal year (2019/2020) recorded about 2,564,000 unemployed, with a rate of 9.6% of the total workforce of 26,680,000 individuals.

The retail sector incurred the largest number of jobs lost during the closure period, with a total of 624,000 jobs, followed by the manufacturing sector with 569,000 jobs, followed by food, beverages and hospitality with 469,000 jobs, then transportation and storage with 309,000 jobs, and construction with 288,000 jobs.

Despite this, the unemployment rate registered a rebound from pre-COVID levels in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, to 7.3% thanks to the gradual easing of precautionary measures.