MEYI Scholar Ragui Assaad Interviewed in Al-Ahram Weekly

In a recent article in Al Ahram Weekly ("Overqualified and unemployed," 10 - 16 July 2008), journalist Sherine Nasr considers the current crisis of youth joblessness in Egypt, where university graduates face staggering unemployment rates of up to 80%. Despite sincere government committment to improved access to education and, subsequently, growing numbers of highly educated graduates, companies complain of a lack of labor skills needed for private-sector industries such as IT, construction, and the service industry, all of which are booming throughout the Middle East. Nasr interviews Ragui Assaad, Regional Director for West Asia and North Africa at the Population Council and co-author of Youth Exclusion in Egypt: In Search of “Second Chances.”

In Youth Exclusion in Egypt, Assaad writes that “Egyptian youth face a virtual devaluation of their credentials because the educational system is geared toward conferring on students the credentials needed to qualify them for jobs in state-owned enterprises and bureaucracies rather than provide the skills they need to succeed in a globalizing, private-sector led economy.” When they do find employment, they are among the lowest-paid, lacking benefits such as insurance, union representation, and paid vacations, and do not earn enough to start families. In fact, by 2005, 72% of labor market entrants were employed in informal and low wage sectors. Assaad continues that "programs that provide labor market information and employment services are very limited. Youths lack information about where to find jobs, where to get training, and even what type of training would be needed in the labor market. No programs specifically address these needs."

Access all of our recent publications on the current state of youth in the areas of education, employment and marriage.

Read about a successful Jordanian vocational and employability training program, Najah, in MEYI's Al-Shabab Awalan ("Youth First") section.