The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) recently announced that Egypt’s unemployment rate in Egypt edged up in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, despite government efforts to control it. This slight increase was mainly driven by an expansion in the labor force size.

In this Factsheet, we highlight the latest developments and key characteristics shaping Egypt’s labor market, offering a clear and timely snapshot of current trends.

• The labor force in Q3 2025 reached an estimated size of 34.727 million individuals, up 3.3% from 33.614 million in the previous quarter.
• In terms of location, the labor force reached 15.205 million individuals in urban areas and 19.522 million in rural areas. By gender, the labor force consisted of 26.998 million males and 7.729 million females.
• The number of unemployed individuals reached 2.229 million, representing 6.4% of the total labor force, including 1.071 million males and 1.158 million females. This compares to 2.054 million unemployed in Q2 2025—an increase of 175,000 individuals or 8.5%.
• The unemployment rate reached 4% for males, rising from 3.5% last quarter and declining from 4.2% a year ago. Meanwhile, female employment dropped to 15%, from 15.8% last quarter and 18.2% a year ago.
• The data show that 16.9% of the unemployed have below-intermediate education, down from 21.8% in Q2 2025 and close to 15.5% in Q3 2024. Meanwhile, 39.7% have intermediate or above-intermediate qualifications, up from 33.4% last quarter and similar to 39.9% a year earlier. Finally, 43.4% are university graduates or higher-degree holders, slightly below the 44.8% recorded last quarter and close to 44.6% in the same quarter last year.
• The employment rate increased to 32.498 million individuals in Q3 2025, up from 31.559 million previously, recording a 3% rise. Around 13.7 million of the employed were located in urban areas, while 18.828 million were in rural areas.
• In Q3 2025, 22.357 million worked in paid jobs, representing 68.8% of total workers, while 1.638 million were employers who hired others (5.0%), 6.215 million were self-employed (19.2%), and 2.288 million were unpaid family workers (7.0%).
• The agriculture and fishing sector employed 6.652 million workers, accounting for 20.5% of employment distribution, followed by wholesale and retail trade with 5.234 million workers, equivalent to 16.1%. Manufacturing activities employed 4.301 million workers or 13.2% of total employment, while 3.821 million worked in the construction sector, and 2.641 million in transportation and storage activities.

By: Amina Hussein

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