Government Policies and the Labour Market in Egypt

Employment

Economy

policy

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, to find out the government policies that have had an impact on the la- bour market; and second, to examine those impacts by ana- lysing the development in the levels and structures of un- employment, employment and wages in Egypt. Two points should be made clear. First, the examination of the labour force data available in Egypt shows that the Po- pulation Census is, relatively speaking, the most dependable source in this regard. Thus, the bulk of the analysis will be between 1960 and 1976, where the last two Population Cen- suses were carried out 1. However, to carry out the analysis as close as possible to the present point of time the second best alternative source of the labour force data the Labour Force Sample Surveys will be used only to indicate the trend of the changes in the labour market after 1976 and up to 1980 2 (the latest data available ), whenever the data allow