Unpacking the Complexities: Strategies for Effective Youth Employment Programs

In Egypt, the challenge with regards to youth employment is not only about creating more jobs, but also ensuring that they are decent and better quality. Young people face various challenges such as limited education, high HIV/AIDS infection rates, disability, geographical location, and social background, making them vulnerable to physical, social, economic, and psychological influences. To overcome these challenges, youth employment programs must address the limitations of a lack of information, networks, and connections among youth; skills relevant to the workplace; experience and credentials; and available jobs suited to entry-level skills. This can be achieved by diverting military aid for economic assistance, supporting public- and private-sector developments, promoting trade and investment, and channelizing support towards the international community.

Running head: Youth Employment Program
The Egyptian youth employment program by the government

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
The economic situation................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of approaches taken by the government for youth employment....................................................4
Evaluating the program's effectiveness and its impact.................................................................................6
The challenges in the achievement of the youth employment program.......................................................8
Success and limitations of the program.......................................................................................................9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................................10
References.................................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
In the recent years, youth employment has gained recognition on the global front. At a number of
international forums, commitments are made to achieve the full and productive employment
levels and creating decent work opportunities for the young generation.
For the Egyptian Government, youth employment is a major challenge as the problems related to
employment are affecting both young women and young men in the country.
Egypt, at present, is in a stage of its demographic transition and this stage is popularly called as
"youth bulge." This refers to a period where the graph of the young population shows a
significant growth in comparison to the other age groups (Kashyout, 2015). There is an
exclusionary framework that operates in Egypt, where some people have a successful transition
to jobs along with financial as well as personal independence while the others suffer from
unemployment.
The economic situation
In the year 2008, the whole world was hit by a serious financial and economic crisis and the
effects of that crisis extended to various countries. It has affected mostly the young generation
who are generally targeted first during any crisis and are kicked out first from the jobs and are
not able to find a job after a crisis (Assaad, 2014). This is the same situation that is prevailing in
Egypt.

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For a period of three years, Egypt has faced serious economic challenges along with an unstable
political condition which has resulted in increased stagnation, poverty and unemployment in the
country. Out of those who are affected by unemployment, minimum 90% are the people who are
below 30 years of age.
In the recent years a paradox has been observed as the young, educated people in Egypt are
unemployed, whereas, on the other hand, the Egyptian employers are finding it difficult to hire
duly qualified workers. This shows a failure in the education and training as it is not able to get
young people having the required skills as demanded by the labor market.
As per the report issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS)
for 2015, on youth population in Egypt, it is observed that out of the total population in Egypt,
23.6% is being represented by the Egyptian youth and which is around 20.7million in number.
Out of those, 26.3% of the youth is suffering from issues of unemployment, and around 51.2%
are suffering from the issues of poverty (Barsoum, 2014). The Youth which is observed to be
very close to the poverty line is around 27.8%, and the ones which are observed under the
poverty line are represented by 24.1%.
As per the figures recorded in the year 2014, the youth unemployment rate was observed around
29% (approximate), and youth suffering from poverty denoted 50%. The total number of people
who were leaving the country had shown an increase of 17% for the year 2014 as compared to
the year 2013. The youth leaving the country assumed unemployment as the main reason behind
their migration.

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Out of the total labor force in Egypt, 52% is being represented by the Young generation where
72.3% is represented by the young males and 33% by the young females.
It is observed that in obtaining permanent jobs, females have been more successful and are
constituting 70.8% of the total young Egyptians who achieved success in attaining permanent
jobs.
Analysis of approaches taken by the government for youth employment
By observing the current situation of unemployment, it has been recommended that best solution
to overcome the problem is the creation of job opportunities for young people to enter the labor
force. The other solutions can include, providing incentives to the employers on reserving jobs
for the young generation.
There is a need to develop partnerships between the government and the private sector.
Integrated strategies need to be adopted to address the mismatch that is evident between the
skills possessed by young people and the skills required by the market.
The government has been developing the 'Building Young Futures' program in order to
develop the skills of young people (Jenkins, 2014). The program shares an idea of focusing on
the development of skills in youth starting from an earlier stage (15-17 years) that is much before
they enter the labor market.
The government, at the beginning of the year, has developed a national training plan in order to
increase employment and simultaneously to reduce unemployment in the country. The

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unemployment problems in the country which is currently faced by over three million
individuals which constitute 13.1% of the total labor force in the country are supposed to be
eliminated through this plan.
The aim with which this plan was initiated was to provide jobs to over 2 million people. In 2014,
jobs were generated for almost 170,000 people out of which approximately 70% jobs were filled.
In May, Adel Labib, who was the Minister of Local Development, had announced of his
approval to over 1,000 projects in just one month which were an initiative towards the
community, human and local development. These projects were given the title-“Your Project”
and involved an investment of around EGP 34m.
Later on the World Youth Day, CAPMAS report was released stating that the young employed
Egyptians between the age group of 18 and 29 consisted of 51.1% young males while remaining
48.9% was represented by young females. Later in the year 2013, out of all the countries
belonging to the Secretary-General’s Youth Employment Network (YEN), Egypt was considered
to be a lead country (Assaad, 2016). YEN was a partnership done between the United Nations,
the ILO, and the World Bank.
As the leading country of YEN, the Government of Egypt prepared a National Action Plan on
youth employment (NAP) in support with the ILO. The process through which NAP has come
into existence has been supported strongly by the Ministry of Manpower and Migration
(MoMM). In Egypt, the NAP had started in February 2006 where Capacity Building Workshop was
organized with the support of the ILO, the YEN Secretariat, and GTZ. It was all done under the
leadership of the Ministry of Manpower and Migration of Egypt.

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The meeting resulted in formation of two bodies;
1. The NAP Steering Committee (NAPSC): comprising of 25 decision-makers
belonging to different Ministries, employers’ and workers’ organizations and
some other key stakeholders. This committee is responsible for all the
strategic and political oversight of the NAP
2. The NAP Technical Commission (NAP-TC): comprising of 15 technical
experts from only the selected institutions and the social partners and other
youth groups. This commission is responsible for the drafting as well as
finalization of the NAP in consultation with the NAP-SC.
Evaluating the program's effectiveness and its impact
There is a need to evaluate the national action plan or the progress report submitted by the
country in order to check if it has adopted an integrated approach to meeting the supply and
demand of the youth employment policy (Barsoum, 2015). For this the four global priorities are
to be evaluated namely;
 employability,
 entrepreneurship,
 employment creation, and
 equal opportunities
These four policies give the framework for the evaluation of the plan.

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The evaluation (taking these four policies as the base), is to be done through a regular sample
survey. The survey should be of young people and should be carried out at the national level.
The questionnaire used in the labor force sample survey must include additional questions on
active labor market programs and must be done quarterly by CAPMAS.
A unit should be established under the MoMM for evaluating the NAP, and that unit must be
made responsible for collecting all the information from different ministries, organizations, and
institutions, related to the development and progress of the annual work plans adopted by them
which are related to the NAP. The annual work plan will include details of all the activities
undertaken to achieve the objectives of NAP as well as the cost of the implementation of the
NAP.
An independent team of experts should also carry out an external in order to ensure the neutrality
and accuracy of the evaluation procedures of the NAP implementation. The results of this
evaluation by these experts should then be presented in an annual conference which must be
organized by MoMM.
After the conference, a discussion must be done analyzing the detailed and extensive information
with respect to the key performance indicators (KPIs) for each outcome. These recommendations
given by the stakeholders in the conference shall be used as a tool in order to adjust, amend or
modify the actual NAP outcomes.
Besides this, the external evaluation team must also carry out a mid-term evaluation of the NAP.

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The challenges in the achievement of the youth employment program
There are some challenges in the path of youth employment programs which need to be resolved
in order to make these programs prove effective.
At present, the challenge in Egypt with regards to youth employment is not merely about
creating more jobs, but the quality of those jobs is also significant. The challenge is thus, to
create decent/better jobs for the youth.
The young people face few challenges other than those related to employment as they face some
obstacles that make it vulnerable for them to cope with the physical, social, economic, and
psychological influences. Maximum young people do not even complete their secondary school,
approximately two-thirds of the school dropouts are constituted by young girls, and not even
one-fourth of the girls are able to attend the secondary schools in many of the developing
countries. It has also been observed that the people who are newly infected with HIV/AIDS, the
majority of them is the youth, showing a higher rate of infection in young women as compared to
young men. Other factors contributing to their vulnerability are the disability, geographical
location, or ethnic and social background.
These challenge of youth employment are being recognized by the international community.
A poor economic and social environment can result in the conditions where the young people are
forced into armed conflicts within the country and outside. The major victims of such conflicts
are again the Young generation. Civil wars and social conflicts also effect negatively the
economic growth and development of the country.

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Success and limitations of the program
The major limitations to the youth employment programs are:
A lack of information, networks, and connections among youth
This is the limitation of the youth especially belonging to the families that lack significant social
capital. They generally don’t have the knowledge of what the work culture actually is.
A lack of skills relevant to the workplace.
Even the young people who have undergone an educational course for achieving a specific
career, have only the general or theoretical knowledge and not the actual practical knowledge
about tasks they will be doing the job.
A lack of experience and credentials in addressing the risk of the employers while making
hiring commitments.
Many employers question the theoretical knowledge and the practical knowledge of the youth
and also question the social skills as well as the work ethic of the youth.
A lack of available jobs suited to entry-level skills.
Sometimes there is a mismatch between the number of young people looking out for work and
the level of local economic activity.
In order to ensure the success of these employment plans, following things need to be achieved:
 By diverting military aid for economic assistance in case of armed conflicts.
 By supporting the public-sector reforms in order to put people back to work for a short
term.

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 By supporting the private-sector developments in order to create job opportunities for
medium-to-long term.
 By promoting trade as well as investment in the country in the desired way.
 By working towards achieving a better educated and more skilled labor force.
 By channelizing support and assistance towards the international community
Conclusion
It can now be concluded that:
 Unemployment and underemployment among young people are not merely a social issue
but is also considered as an economic and political issue.
 The youth employment policies focus mainly on the supply side.
 All efforts in preparing young people better for work will fail if not accompanied by
policies.
 Not to approach youth employment as a target group.
 In order to have broad-based ownership, a proper process must be included in the
national action plans.
Recommendations
It has been recommended that in order to eliminate the challenges and the limitations and in
order to ensure the success of these programs, one must take following measures:
 Encouraging countries that formulated national action plans for youth employment to
move towards the implementation stage.

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 Encouraging the Governments in developing their own national action plans.
 Encouraging the Governments to introduce new policy-oriented ways in order to monitor
and evaluate the plans.

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References
Kashyout, A. E. H. B., Khamis, E., El-Shimy, H. G., Fathy, M., & Youssef, F. S. (2015). The
Needs of Knowledge Based Economy for Advancing Egypt Development Plans. Abstract of
Applied Sciences and Engineering, 2(2).
Assaad, R., & Krafft, C. (2014). Youth transitions in Egypt: school, work, and family formation
in an era of changing opportunities (Vol. 1). Silatech Working Paper No. 14.
Barsoum, G. (2016). Youth‐focused active labour market programmes in a constraining welfare
regime: A qualitative reading of programmes in Egypt. International Journal of Social Welfare.
Jenkins, J. C., Maher, T. V., & Fahrer, C. (2014). Seedbeds of insurgency: Structure and
dynamics in the Egyptian Islamist insurgency, 1986–99. Journal of Peace Research, 51(4), 470-
486.
Assaad, R., Ghazouani, S., Krafft, C., & Rolando, D. J. (2016). Introducing the Tunisia Labor
Market Panel Survey 2014. IZA Journal of Labor & Development, 5(1), 15.
Barsoum, G. (2015). Striving for job security: The lived experience of employment informality
among educated youth in Egypt. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 35(5/6),
340-358.