26 July - 1 August 2001
Issue No.544
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 26 July - 1 August 2001 Issue No.544 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Tick tock
The strikes that hit Upper Egypt and the Delta last week were triggered by the 11 July announcement by the Minister of Administrative Development, Zaki Abu Amer, that 170,000 public sector jobs and places on training schemes would be made available, though only to university graduates under the age of 28, or intermediate diploma holders under 24.
The age restrictions provoked the fury of a generation of "educated jobless" -- their numbers must be counted in the millions -- who have languished for more than a decade on the labour market. Their very existence, and in such numbers, itself underlines the absolute lack of any connection between the education system and the labour market, and the failure of the private sector to create viable job opportunities through investment in small and medium sized enterprises. Immediately following the strikes Prime Minister Atef Ebeid retracted the previously announced age restriction, reflecting once more the tendency to formulate policy on the hoof, as a reaction to events, rather than as a means of shaping them.
With seemingly perfect ironic timing all this was happening at the same time as the annual scramble that is the university application season -- a pandering to public sentiment that in the end is simply an exercise in cruelty, boosting expectations without providing the means, either in terms of the content of university courses, or in real job opportunities, that might allow those expectations to be fulfilled.
Ignoring the recommendations of the boards of already overcrowded institutions of higher education the Higher Council for Universities raised enrolments by 7.9 per cent overall. The Doctor's Syndicate, reacting to instructions that medical faculties increase the number of places by 7.2 per cent, registered a strong formal protest, but to no avail.
The government has yet to admit that Egypt is suffering serious unemployment. Minister Abu Amer has stated that there are currently 1.2 million unemployed graduates, and places the overall level of unemployment at eight per cent. Non-governmental assessments, on the other hand, place the number of unemployed anywhere between 5 and 8 million, while International Labour Organisation and World Bank reports have placed the real level of unemployment between 15 and 18 per cent.
The Ebeid government early outlined its policy goals, one of which was to reduce the burden on the government's purse entailed by guaranteeing graduates employment. Recession, though, has apparently forced a U-turn. The state is now in a quandary, having set itself the target of providing 800,000 job opportunities annually, most of which it was hoped would be in the private sector.
Last week several palliative announcements were made, most noticeably concerning the Railroad Authority and EgyptAir. The Minister of Transport, and chairman of EgyptAir, were both reported as saying that staffing levels will remain untouched despite restructuring. Workers on contracts, would, furthermore, be offered permanent positions.
Given that privatisation remains a self-confessed priority of the current government it is hard to square these opposing policies: on the one hand providing more permanent positions in entities that are crying out for downsizing, and on the other trying to flog off parts of these over- populated entities to private investors.
Capital investment will only be forthcoming if fiscal incentives are in place, and bloated payrolls are obviously not the kind of incentive investors are seeking. And if the private sector is to provide the bulk of employment it must be weaned away from its current preoccupation with exploiting a corrupt banking sector to finance non-productive activities (mostly in redundant real estate projects or importing luxury goods) and redirect its activities into productive enterprises that actually generate jobs. Without such a major redirection the time bomb will continue to tick. The lesson had better be learned now, rather than later.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page