Egypt stands as a major labor exporter, shaping a powerhouse workforce abroad, particularly in the Arab World, North America, and Europe. In this context, Egypt has been enhancing its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system, a vibrant step towards meeting the skills needed for a competitive global labor market. By developing TVET, Egypt not only addresses boosting labor exports but also confronts unemployment.

Labor Export from Egypt

Egypt boasts a thriving labor export market, with notably many Egyptians working abroad. Soha Gendi, Minister of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates’ Affairs, stated in July 2023 that over 14 million Egyptians contribute their skills overseas.

The country relies greatly on remittance from Egyptians working abroad for being a vital source of foreign currency. However, remittances dropped to $4.5 billion during the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2023/2024 from $6.4 billion in the same period a FY earlier, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

Thus, Egypt aims for an average growth of 10% in remittances between 2024 and 2030, a document published by the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) on the key strategic directions for the Egyptian economy in 2024-2030 showed.

As a result, Egypt is pursuing different approaches to scale up labor exports, including the development of technical and vocational skills required in global markets.

Earlier in January 2024, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting with ministers of education, higher education, planning, and more, to follow up on the export of trained Egyptian technical personnel and workers outside the country.

During the meeting, Madbouly highlighted the interest received in the export of qualified technical workers, given the volume of requests received from many countries, especially European ones. This requires expanding the preparation of technical cadres and trained workers to export abroad, meet these demands, and provide new job opportunities to these workers trained on the latest systems in various sectors, keeping pace with global developments.

TVET Offsets Unemployment, Boosts Labor Export

TVET emerges as a crucial educational avenue in Egypt, playing a role in countering unemployment. Surprisingly, the highest unemployment rates are among university and post-university graduates, 35.4% of whom are males and 65.3% are females, as per data by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

The CAPMAS also reported that 31.8% of jobless males in the country hold technical degrees, while females with the same qualifications made up 20.7% of total unemployed women.

Lamees El-Araby, Head of the International Economics Department at Egyptian Chinese University, tells Arab Finance: “From my point of view, TVET will increase the job opportunities and lower the unemployment rate, as random internet search shows that most of the advertised vacancies are for candidates with technical experience.”

“Meanwhile, the unemployment rates continue to demonstrate a negative relationship between unemployment rates and college attainment, as college graduates account for the highest percentage of unemployed,” El-Araby explains.

Additionally, TVET has an impact on the country’s labor export since technically skilled talents are needed abroad. Accordingly, in June 2023, the Egyptian Prime Minister directed the cabinet to combine efforts on exporting large numbers of technical school graduates, ranging between 50,000 and 75,000 graduates annually out of a total of 750,000 annual graduates, to work abroad.

Aiming to Develop TVET

Egypt is keen on elevating its TVET, with a focus on the most prominent short-term goals and urgent priorities, including the development of vocational education and training in 756 schools, establishing 10 applied schools in partnership with the private sector, and upgrading the infrastructure in 150 schools in accordance with quality and accreditation standards, as outlined in the IDSC' document.

The country has been signing agreements to fortify TVET. This included an agreement sealed between the government and private companies to enhance the provision of TVET since 2018, with the aim to boost students’ production skills, according to El-Araby.

"However, TVET are still facing many challenges, especially cultural, for its negative perception and being mainly associated with academic failure, rather than being perceived as an alternative path to a productive and decent job. It is perceived as a last resort for academically low-performing students; thus, the role of media coverage is missed in changing these misperceptions," El-Araby notes.

TVET in Egypt could be further improved with investments; therefore, it is important to attract investments into this form of education to reap future fruits.

"Investing in TVET supports economic growth by addressing skills gaps in the job market. By providing students with the practical, in-demand skills that employers look for, businesses would find the talent they need to grow," El-Araby adds.

In a strategic move, Egypt is reshaping its TVET to bridge skill gaps and face unemployment challenges. Simultaneously, the country is fostering TVET expansion by raising the numbers of technical and vocational schools in cooperation with the private sector, in order to strengthen labor export.

By Sarah Samir

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