Egypt’s unemployment rate rises to 6.4% in Q3 2025: CAPMAS

El-Sayed Gamal El-Din , Sunday 16 Nov 2025

Egypt’s unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent in the third quarter of 2025, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, according to data released Sunday by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

File Photo: Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) building . Al-Ahram

The figures show continued labour-market fluctuations this year.

The unemployment rate eased to 6.2 percent in Q1, dipped to 6.1 percent in Q2, then climbed again to 6.4 percent in Q3.

In its quarterly labour force survey covering July–September, CAPMAS reported a 3.3 percent expansion in the labour force, which increased to 34.7 million people compared to 33.6 million in Q2.

The rise was driven by 939,000 newly employed individuals and 175,000 newly unemployed, bringing total labour force growth to more than 1.1 million.

The number of unemployed reached 2.23 million, up from 2.05 million the previous quarter.

Unemployment among men increased to 4.0 percent, while the rate among women edged down to 15 percent, from 15.8 percent in Q2. Urban unemployment rose to 10.1 percent, while rural unemployment reached 3.6 percent, compared to 3.3 percent in the previous quarter.

CAPMAS noted that 83.1 percent of unemployed individuals hold intermediate, post-intermediate, university, or higher qualifications—up from 78.2 percent in Q2.

Total employment reached 32.5 million, a 3 percent quarterly increase. Urban areas accounted for 13.7 million of the employed population, compared to 18.8 million in rural areas.

Employees on cash wages represented 68.8 percent of the workforce (22.36 million). The number of employers running their own businesses rose to 1.64 million, while 6.2 million people were self-employed without employees, representing 19.2 percent of total employment.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing remained Egypt’s largest employer, providing jobs for 6.65 million workers (20.5 percent). This was followed by wholesale and retail trade with 5.23 million workers (16.1 percent), manufacturing with 4.3 million (13.2 percent), and construction with 3.82 million.

As of March, Egypt raised the minimum wage for public and private-sector employees to EGP 7,000, the sixth increase in three years.

The adjustment comes amid persistent inflationary pressures in 2025, which have strained household budgets and increased operating costs for businesses.