Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) in Egypt The case of the: Furniture Industry

This report presents an application of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) methodology to the furniture industry of Egypt’s economy. STED is a sector-based approach to identifying and anticipating the strategic skills needs of internationally tradable sectors. While being a relatively small industry contributing only around 2 percent of total Egyptian exports, the furniture industry has been chosen due to its potential for export and employment growth. Growth in exports between 2010 and 2014 was the second highest among all Egyptian industries at 39 per cent. Supporting the industry through actions on skills is likely to enhance their export competitiveness. The sector is composed mainly of small and medium enterprises overall employing 270.000 people that tend to have a wide range of skills challenges. Hence, it is very likely that the industry’s competitiveness would benefit from a good skills strategy, subject to effective implementation.