The Global Jobs Pact in Egypt

Roundtable on Mitigating the Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Egypt's Economy and Labour Market

20-21 December 2009

The Employment Policy Department in collaboration with the ILO Sub-regional Office for North Africa organized a tripartite Roundtable to discuss the impact of the global economic crisis on the Egyptian economy and labour market as well as policy responses to mitigate this impact.

The roundtable was held on 20-21 December 2009, under the auspices of His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Ahmad Nazif, and at the invitation of the Ministry of Manpower and Migration, the Information and Decision-Making Support Center and the ILO. H.E. Ms. Aisha Abdel Hady, Minister of Manpower and Migration, actively participated during the whole meeting. Other high level participants included H.E. Dr. Osman Mohamed Osman, Minister of Economic Development, H.E. Mr. Zoheir Garana, Minister of Tourism, Dr. Maged Osman, Director of the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center and the members of the People's Assembly, Shoura Council as well as a large number of high ranking academicians, experts, workers and employers.

The roundtable was the last stage of the advisory work that started in May 2009 on assessing the impact of crisis. A series of studies commissioned jointly by the Employment Policy Department, the ILO Sub regional Office for North Africa and the Sectoral Activities Programme were presented and discussed in order to identify the impact of the crisis in certain areas such as the textile sector, the tourism sector, women and youth and trade. The Government’s efforts and programmes adopted to stimulate the economy and alleviate the impact of the crisis on the labour market were also discussed, as well as the importance of social dialogue in facilitating crisis response. It was particularly emphasized that the signs of crisis recovery should not lead to a retreating of these programmes, but rather to scaling them up. Furthermore, it was noted that the promotion of job opportunities in the Egyptian labour market requires heightening of the competitiveness of workers and enterprises. Policy directions discussed included the need to ensure that skills respond to labour market requirements; reconsidering wage policy; promoting social dialogue as well as consolidating social protection programmes. Within this backdrop, the necessity of expediting implementation of the national action plan for youth employment launched in May 2009 was noted.

Minister Al-Hady reiterated in her concluding remarks that the discussion of the roundtable was of utmost importance to assist Egypt in the implementation of the Global Jobs Pact at national level. Dealing with the structural imbalance in the labour market not only with regard to the current crisis, but also in view of future crises will be essential. The current economic crisis shall therefore be turned into an opportunity to promote the decent work agenda. The ILO was called to continue providing support to the Government of Egypt within this major endeavor.