The New Egyptian Labor Movement: Giving Youth a Voice in the Workplace
The rise of independent trade unions is fostering a more stable environment for job creation and offering Egyptian youth a channel for voicing their demands.
This report was featured as a chapter in ‘Overcoming the Youth Employment Crisis : Strategies from Around the Globe’, a joint report co-authored by the global partners of JustJobs Network. The desperate need for more and better jobs for Egypt’s youth is one of the key challenges confronting the country. Youth discontent was the spark that helped ignite the 2011 revolution, and if high youth unemployment and poor working conditions continue to persist, so will Egypt’s social unrest and its economic woes. As Dewan et al claim in a report by the JustJobs Network, “Stability depends on whether Egypt’s economy can generate enough “just jobs”—complete with appropriate remuneration, good working conditions, and opportunities for average citizens to make a better life for themselves and their families—to give the nation’s new democracy the underpinning it needs to thrive.”
This report examines whether trade unions can be a constructive actor to help generate more positive job outcomes for Egyptian youth. Can they be part of the solution, and if so, how?
An examination of strike statistics and qualitative fieldwork in Egypt suggest that trade unions exert an important positive influence on employment outcomes in the Egyptian labor market.
They have the ability to improve work standards, build a more democratic and transparent industrial relations system, and provide an arena for youth to voice their grievances in a controlled environment rather than through violent and unruly means. Although there are several challenges facing youth organizing in trade unions, supporting and strengthening independent trade unions in Egypt will help improve the employment outcomes for youth in Egypt.
You may also be interested in
Water and Livelihoods in Meghalaya
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Meghalaya. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Karnataka
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Karnataka. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Bihar
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Bihar. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Odisha
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Odisha. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Maharashtra
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Maharashtra. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Empowerment or Exploitation: Global Perspectives on Women’s Work in the Platform Economy
This signature volume of essays, part of a regular series curated and edited by the JustJobs Network, seeks to provide varying perspectives on the opportunities and challenges that technology, particularly digital platforms, pose for women’s work and delves into the impact of the platform economy on women's experiences in work.
Digitalisation and the Indian Labour Market – Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities
This report tackles the crucial issue of how digital trends in India are unfolding and how they might impact the country’s world of work. It highlights the opportunities and challenges of these developments and the areas where policy intervention is needed to harness the potential of technology to improve labour market outcomes.
Reimagining Employability for the 21st-century: 10 Million Apprentices in 10 Years
This report offers a nuanced understanding of how Apprenticeships can improve employability outcomes for India’s labour market at an uncertain time when forces ranging from technology to pandemics keep changing the rules of the game.
Pathways to Work: Mapping Education, Skills and Employability to Labour Market Demand
This report analyses India’s skills training ecosystem, delineating the challenges and the urgent need for deep reform. It provides recommendations for systemic change in the education-skill ecosystem that will help create a better, more inclusive, and equitable world for work for India’s youth.
Technology, Equality and the Future of Work in South and South East Asia
This paper seeks to take stock of the main dimensions shaping the future of work in the South and South East Asia and present key messages and policy recommendations to create an innovative and inclusive future of work.
The World in 2030: Looking Back Ten Years from Now
This book provides well-founded insights and guidance to (self-)manage work in a globalized and digitalized knowledge economy with a perspective of the year 2030. International researchers and practitioners draw a picture of how, when, and where we will work most probably in 10 years.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Implications for Asian Development Cooperation
In her chapter on the potential of ASEAN's digital transformation, JJN President and Executive Director Sabina Dewan explores employment impacts of the region's major digital trends and how regional cooperation is critical to leverage economic advantages.