19.3 Unemployment Rate during the first Quarter of 2020

The Department of Statistics issued its quarterly report on the Unemployment Rate during the First quarter of 2020 : The following are the main results of this survey:

Unemployment:

• The Unemployment Rate during the first quarter of 2020 has reached (19.3%) which means an increase by 0.3 percentage points compared with the first quarter of 2019.
• The Unemployment Rate for males has reached (18.1%) during the first quarter of 2020 against (24.4) for females; the Unemployment Rate for males has increased by 1.7 percentage points while it has decreased by 4.5 percentage points for females compared with the first quarter of 2019.

The Unemployed:

• The Survey results show that the Unemployment Rate is high among the university degree holders (Bachelor degree and higher divided by labor force for the same educational level) by 22.1% compared with the other educational levels.
• The results also show that 50.8% of the Unemployed are secondary certificate holders and higher, and that 49.2% have less than secondary school qualifications.
• Male Unemployed percentage of bachelor holders and higher was 24.8% against 70.7% for females which is varied according to educational level and sex.
• The highest rate of Unemployment was recorded in the age group 15-19 and 20-24 years by 48.3% and 39.7% respectively.
• On regional level the highest Rate of Unemployment was recorded in the middle region at 20.3% and the lowest rate was recorded in southern region at 17.6% (Note that the survey sample for this quarter of the year is represented at the regional level only).

The Employed:

• The Employed rate among the age group (15 and above) is 27.8%.

• The results show that about 60.2% of the employed males and 61.7% of the employed females are concentrated in the age group 20-39 years.
• About half of the employed have less than secondary qualifications, 9.5% of the secondary level and 39.4% are higher than secondary level.
• The results also show that about 83.1% of the employed are paid employees (80.2% for males against 95.4% for females).

 The Labor Force: (Employed & Unemployed):

 The results show a clear variation in the labor force distribution with regard to educational level and sex. It was found that about 60.2% of the total male labor force has less than secondary educational qualifications compared to 13.5% for females. The results indicate also that 64.1% of the total labor force among females has bachelor level or higher, compared with 23.7% for males.

• The Crude Economic Activity Rate (i.e. labor force attributed to the total population) reached 23.8%.
• The Refined Economic Participation Rate (the labor force attributed to the population 15 years and over) is 34.5% (54.8% for males against 14.0% for females) for the first quarter of 2020 compared with 35.1% (54.4% for males and 15.0 % for females) for the first quarter of 2019.