Egypt’s unemployment rate fell to 11.8 percent in 2017, from 12.5 percent in 2016, CAPMAS announced on Monday.

The government has been leading a policy of prioritizing labor-intensive industries, in a bid to provide job opportunities.

Unemployment in 2017 was at 14.5 percent in rural areas, versus 9.8 percent in rural areas.

Unemployment among males recorded 8.2 percent in 2017, down from 8.9 percent in 2016.

The gender gap results in a 23.1 percent unemployment rate for females in 2017, down from 23.6 percent in 2016.

The highest unemployment rate was recorded in the governorate of Suez (22.3 percent) and the Red Sea governorate, which relies on tourism for job opportunities (18.5 percent), while the lowest was in Menoufiya (6.9 percent).

Among young people (aged 15-29 years old), the unemployment rate was 24.8 percent in 2017.

Within this age group, 20 percent of males and 36.5 percent of females were unemployed.

A rate of 31.8 percent of youth who are degree-holders are unemployed.

According to CAPMAS, the labor force in 2017 consisted of 29.474 million Egyptians – including people who work and those who are seeking work – up from 28.934 million in 2016.

Forty-five percent of the population above 15 years old contributed to the workforce in 2017, compared with 46.6 percent in 2017.

Among those, employees constituted 26.006 million people in 2017 (20.620 million of which were males), compared with 25.331 million in 2016 (including 19.986 million males).

The difference between the labor force and those who are employed constitutes the 3.468 million unemployed in 2017, down from 3.603 million unemployed in 2016.

Among the unemployed, the percentage of people who used to work before was at 27 percent in 2017, down from 28.9 percent in 2016.

A quarter of Egyptian employees work in agriculture and fishing, 12.9 percent in building and construction, 12.6 percent in wholesale and retail trade, and 12 percent in transformative industries.

Only 3,600 work in international institutions and authorities, embassies, and foreign consulates.