Egypt’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development reviews initiatives to raise employment levels in the FY 2023/22 plan

Egypt's Ministry of Planning and Economic Development issued recently a report that reviewed the policies and initiatives proposed to raise employment levels in the current fiscal year 2023/22 plan.
H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, stated that the sectoral distributions of new job opportunities expected to be procured during the year of the plan indicate that the pioneering, labor-intensive sectors will monopolize the bulk of the available job opportunities.
These labor-intensive sectors are agriculture, construction, wholesale and retail trade, and the manufacturing industry, which is expected to absorb, in total, about 60% of the total job opportunities.
El-Said said that the human and social development sectors are expected to absorb about 14% of the total.
El-Said indicated that the sectoral distributions had been estimated, guided by the relative distribution of workers contained in the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMS)Workforce Bulletin (fourth quarter of 2020), and the sectoral growth expectations of output during the year of the plan.
Concerning the policies and initiatives proposed to advance employment levels in the 2023/22 plan, the Ministry of Planning’s report indicated that they are represented in encouraging small and medium enterprises SMEs, in light of the importance of this sector and its central role in advancing development in various industries and providing job opportunities.
The report reviewed some of the policies and initiatives that support these directions, including the initiatives of the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA).
 
Law No. 152 of 2020 and its executive regulations are considered the beginning of approving many financial incentives and benefits, as well as the role of the Egyptian Rural Development Initiative, “A Decent Life.”
The report also referred to initiatives and mechanisms to stimulate the integration of the informal sector into the fabric of the national economy, as the informal sector currently constitutes about 40% of GDP (about 2.6 trillion pounds), and to stimulate the integration of the informal sector into the national economic system.
Women's economic empowerment was the topic of the report. This is because the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 includes four pillars: political, economic, and societal empowerment. In addition, the strategy offers protection from all forms of violence against women.
The Ministry of Planning's report indicated that Egypt had launched an initiative to bridge the gender gap.
 
The report noted that the Egyptian government exerted efforts to enhance financial inclusion, raise savings rates and encourage women to be entrepreneurs.
The initiative also aims to increase financial awareness by spreading financial knowledge among school and university students.
In the context of promoting women's economic empowerment and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, the National Council for Women, the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, and Canadian Aid prepared the Egyptian Women's Entrepreneurship Guide, intended to promote the economic empowerment of Egyptian women.
The guide aims to build the capabilities of women who want to start a project to help them provide an adequate income. In addition, it assists women who already have a project and wish to expand it, or who face problems implementing it by providing advice and guidance.