Youth Unemployment and Poverty in Egypt

• Published in: Poverty & public policy 2018-09, Vol.10 (3), p.295-316
• Main Author: Bremer, Jennifer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accountability; Armed forces; Crises; Dependence; desempleo; Economic conditions; Economic problems; Educational systems; Egipto; Egypt; Employment; Females; gobernabilidad pública; Governance; Informal economy; informalidad; informality; juventud; Life transitions; Low income groups; pobreza y empleo; Poverty; Power elite; public governance; Public service; Stability; Stagnation; Streamlining; Unemployment; Young women; Youth; Youth employment; 公共治理; 埃及; 失业; 就业; 贫困; 青年; 非正规性
• ISSN: 1944-2858; 2194-6027; 1944-2858
• DOI: 10.1002/pop4.224

Egypt's 2011 Tahrir Revolution was fueled by the volatile combination of pervasive public governance failures and a large youth population blocked from successfully navigating the transition to adulthood. Far from addressing these problems, this Revolution led to instability, economic stagnation, and the rapid return to power of Egypt's military–elite alliance, further marginalizing the youth population. This article argues that Egyptian youth's predicament must be understood as the result of public governance failures. Their dependence on a failed and unaccountable public education system leaves them without the skills needed for productive employment, while Egypt's dualistic “limited access order” leads to the suppression of medium‐size firms, forcing low‐income youth to accept poorly paid, insecure employment in the informal sector, and constraining opportunities for educated youth, particularly young women, who remain outside the workforce. Viable, sustained solutions to youth's problems require that the Egyptian government tackle the underlying public governance failures by introducing accountability to citizens for public service quality, streamlining regulatory systems to accelerate enterprise growth and expand competition, and instituting greater transparency to achieve inclusive and broad‐based growth. Though not directed at youth per se, such systemic reforms must underpin any successful effort to relieve Egypt's youth crisis. 摘要 2011年埃及塔利尔革命受到了以下二者的推动：普遍的公共治理失败和大部分青年群体无法成功完成成年人的转型。这次革命非但没有解决问题，反而导致了不稳定性、经济停滞、以及埃及军事精英联盟快速重获权力——这进一步将青年群体边缘化。本文主张，埃及青年所遭遇的困境一定是由公共治理失败所造成的。他们在一个失败的、不负责任的公共教育体系下成长，因此并不具备生产性就业所需的各项技能，同时埃及的双重“有限准入秩序”抑制中型企业的发展，强迫在非正式部门就业的低收入青年接受没有保障的就业和低廉的薪资，并限制接受过良好教育的青年获取工作机会，尤其是还未找到工作青年女性。对于青年问题，可行的、可持续的解决措施则需要埃及政府处理潜在的公共治理失败，处理方式包括：对公民引入问责机制，保证公共服务质量；简化监管体系，加速企业成长并扩大竞争；和建立更高的透明度，实现包容性和广泛性增长。尽管本质上并未指向青年，但这类系统性改革必须支持一切为成功所做的努力，缓解埃及青年危机。 Resumen La Revolución Tahrir de 2011 en Egipto fue impulsada por la combinación volátil de omnipresentes fallas en la gobernanza pública y una gran población de jóvenes que no podía navegar con éxito la transición a la edad adulta. Lejos de abordar estos problemas, esta Revolución llevó a la inestabilidad, al estancamiento económico y al rápido regreso al poder de la alianza entre élites militares de Egipto, marginando aún más a la población joven. Este artículo argumenta que la situación de los jóvenes egipcios debe entenderse como el resultado de fallas en la gobernanza pública. Su dependencia de un s