Heba Ahmed, Director of the General Department of Employment at the Ministry of Labor, said that the ministry, along with partner national agencies, contributed to reducing the unemployment rate from 13% in 2014 to 7.1% in the current year 2023, explaining that the ministry succeeded in employing more than 3 million people. A guy and a girl inside, during the past 9 years. And the Director of the Employment Department indicated, during her interview with Al-Dustour, that the Ministry of Labor has also succeeded, since May 1, 2014 until now, in employing 3 million, 547 thousand and 51 workers abroad, based on the database of permits granted to Egyptian workers abroad.
■ First, what is the plan of the Ministry of Labor to reduce the problem of unemployment?
– The Ministry issues the National Employment Bulletin twice a month, including job opportunities available for youth, women and people of determination, and related information collected through employment offices in the ministry’s directorates.
New job opportunities with private sector companies are constantly being searched for, and they are published on a regular basis, with an investigation of those jobs, the seriousness and credibility of those opportunities, and the follow-up of companies to ensure that young people receive the opportunities announced in the bulletins, and a comprehensive report is prepared on all those who have been appointed by any company, and follow them by going to the field or direct contact on their own phones.
The ministry also prepares and organizes employment forums at the governorate level, so that business owners in companies operating in the private and investment sectors meet, and young people wishing to work, and inform them of the professions and specializations in the market.
■ What is the role of the Ministry’s training centers in reducing youth unemployment?
– Young people are guided and directed to conversion training to professions available in the labor market, through the Ministry’s training centers in the directorates, or mobile cars that visit areas that do not have fixed centers, to increase their ability to acquire existing job opportunities, and their integration into the labor market.
The Ministry is also working, through its training centers in the governorates, and its training programs, whether vocational training or transformational training, to help young people of both sexes compete in the internal and external labor markets, and the training will be in the required professions and all specializations.
Training is provided to young people in accordance with their desires, to acquire new skills, in order to determine their path, find suitable job opportunities for them in the labor market, or encourage them to a culture of self-employment to establish projects and entrepreneurship, whether for their own account, or through cooperation between them, and in line with with the needs of the regions.
Young people are directed to the Enterprise Development Fund to obtain loans, provide them with a good job opportunity, and expand the establishment of projects.
We also have a continuous follow-up of the annual marketing plans, including the weekly plan for each directorate, to identify opportunities in the labor market, in the private sector, and new industries, as well as identifying job opportunities that require specific technological skills, to provide the necessary training for young people to acquire these skills.
■ How do you interact with job postings?
Young people interact with the available opportunities through the bulletin prepared by the Employment Department at home, either by going to the ministry, or by direct communication with researchers and specialists, or by searching on communication sites, such as the official page of the Ministry of Labor on Facebook.
It should be noted that young people still need to change some of their culture to accept the job opportunities available in the labor market, even if they conflict with their educational qualifications.
The Ministry always seeks to raise the awareness of young people, so that they realize that the future is in line with the private sector, by guiding and guiding them on the importance of working in this sector, and the importance of transformational training to suit the most important professions required in the labor market, while realizing that they have an important role in helping institutions and factories that aim to continue the wheel of development. And raising Egypt’s status among countries, especially by working on national projects such as the administrative capital, and establishing new cities.
■ How many job opportunities has the ministry succeeded in providing in recent years?
The Ministry, with the partner national agencies, contributed to reducing the unemployment rate from 13% in 2014 to 7.1% in the current year 2023, by providing employment opportunities at home and abroad through the National Jobs Bulletin, which the Ministry announces every 15 days, and forums. Employment, in coordination with private sector companies in all governorates, and through affiliated employment offices, and Egyptian labor recruitment companies supervised by the Ministry and licensed to practice activity.
In the field of domestic employment, the Ministry of Labor succeeded in employing 3,32,567 young men and women, during the period from May 1, 2014 until now, through the various tools and mechanisms of the Ministry’s work in the field of employment, in coordination with the private sector.
In the field of employment abroad, the ministry has succeeded in creating 3 million 547 thousand and 51 job opportunities abroad, based on the database of permits granted to Egyptian workers abroad, and labor representation offices, as the ministry has 9 labor representation offices in countries where nearly 5 million work. Egyptian worker.
■ Within the framework of the presidential directives to pay attention to people with abilities.. What role does the ministry play to integrate this group into the labor market?
The General Directorate of Employment and the employment offices in the labor directorates of the Ministry receive people of determination and provide them with suitable job opportunities that are commensurate with their academic qualifications, type of disability, and are compatible with the professions required in the labor market, and they are registered, in preparation for their nomination to the bodies to which the law applies. No. 10 of 2018.
Work is being done on continuous field follow-up of them with labor directorates, to inspect establishments that employ 20 workers or more, to meet the 5% rate, based on Law 10 of 2018 regarding persons with disabilities, which stipulates the commitment of governmental and non-governmental agencies and every employer who employs 20 workers or more, whether they work in one place or separate places, and whatever the nature of their work, to appoint 5% of the number of workers in the institution, who are people of determination.
The Ministry is also working to limit the professions required for people of determination, and to study the possibility of training them inside the facility, that is, training for employment, and to coordinate with the Central Administration for Vocational Training to provide them with the most important professions required in the labor market, to train them in them. It also works to guide and direct people of determination to the culture of self-employment, in coordination with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, to obtain loans and establish their own projects.