Conference of ERF: "The Egyptian Labor Market: A Focus on Gender and Economic Vulnerability", Cairo, 27-28 October 2019.
A new ERF study investigates the evolution of Egypt’s labor market from 2012 to 2018, with a focus on gender and economic vulnerability. The objective of the conference is to provide a platform for disseminating the research findings and the policy implications of the papers to the policymakers, academia, civil society and to the business community.
Information: http://erf.org.eg/events/the-egyptian-labor-market-a-focus-on-gender-and-economic-vulnerability/
A better understanding of labor market behavior and dynamics is integral to Egypt’s development. And since good data is imperative to any solid research in this field, ERF has invested time and effort on labor market panel surveys. The ELMPS 2018 is the fourth wave of the survey to be conducted in which revisited the 12,060 households from the 2012 survey wave to collect data, and included any households resulting from splits. The 2018 wave adds new measures of vulnerability, including the instability of employment, mental health, self-efficacy, women’s empowerment, food security, hazardous work, community infrastructure, the costs of housing, agricultural livelihoods, and coping strategies for households who experienced shocks. The ERF commissioned a new book in the LMPS’s series, which seeks to investigate the evolution of Egypt’s labor market from 2012 to 2018, with a focus on gender and economic vulnerability. The objective of the conference is to provide a platform for disseminating the research findings and the policy implications of the papers to the policymakers, academia, civil society and to the business community. This Project was made possible by the generous contributions of the ILO, World Bank, AFD, UN Women, and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
Context
A better understanding of labor market behavior and dynamics is integral to Egypt’s development. And since good data is imperative to any solid research in this field, ERF has invested time and effort on labor market panel surveys. The first three were conducted in 1998, 2006, and 2012. More recently, a similar exercise was successfully carried out again in Egypt in 2018 in cooperation with the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). The ELMPS 2018 revisited the 12,060 households from the 2012 survey wave to collect data, and included any households resulting from splits with the 2012 households in the sample. Moreover, to better capture economic vulnerability in Egypt, the ELMPS 2018 added a refresher sample of 2,000 households that oversamples the poorest villages in the country. The study captured a sample of 15,746 households representing 61,231 individuals. The ELMPS 2018 continues to measure indicators related to employment, labor market activity, household wealth and assets, education, marriage and family formation. The 2018 wave adds new measures of vulnerability, including the instability of employment, mental health, self-efficacy, women’s empowerment, food security, hazardous work, community infrastructure, the costs of housing, agricultural livelihoods, and coping strategies for households who experienced shocks.
Using this wealth of data, ERF commissioned a new book in the LMPS’s series. This book project seeks to investigate the evolution of Egypt’s labor market from 2012 to 2018, with a focus on gender and economic vulnerability. Both the economy and politics of Egypt have undergone major transformations in the last two decades. Strong economic growth and substantial restructuring of the labor market simultaneously took place in Egypt in the first decade of the 2000s. Politics in Egypt were also relatively stable until 2011. Economic growth slowed in the aftermath of the 2008-09 financial crisis and was further hindered by the 25th January 2011 revolution and subsequent political and economic turmoil. Thereafter, the Egyptian economy experienced a serious downturn. Eventually economic reforms were undertaken in 2016, which included floating the exchange rate, and thereafter Egyptians experienced high rates of inflation for the immediate post devaluation period. The floating exchange rate, however, may have made Egypt more competitive to export and attractive to tourists. Among all these changes, how have Egyptians fared?
This Project was made possible by the generous contributions of the ILO, World Bank, AFD, UN Women, and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
Conference objectives and Setting
The objective of the conference is to provide a platform for disseminating the research findings and the policy implications of the papers to the policymakers, academia, civil society and to the business community.
The conference will convene for two days. An opening session will give an overview of the evolution of labor supply and labor markets in Egypt. 11 presentations will be presented in six sessions covering various aspects of the Egyptian labor market as detailed in the agenda. Two presentations will be presented in each session followed by observations from the commentators as well as from the floor.
Each session has an allotted time of two hours which is divided between the speakers’ presentation for 20 minutes each followed by the commentators’ observations for 20 minutes. The remaining time will be for the open discussion from the floor.