It’s harder than ever to find a job in Egypt, where the unemployment rate has risen to a record 13 per cent. For young Egyptians, the jobless rate is much higher.
For out-of-work Christians, finding a job can be especially tough. They are 10 to 12 per cent of a country where Islam is the state religion. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party holds the highest offices in the government. When quarrelling citizens arrive at legal loggerheads, the new constitution turns to Islamic law to resolve the impasse. In the streets, kidnappings for ransom are increasing and churches are often attacked and burned.
At ground level, Egyptian Christians use a more personal language to describe their place in the economy. World Watch Monitor spoke with three Cairo Christians who are looking for work, and their comments are below. Each of them asked not to be photographed or identified in full. Publicly criticizing a system they view as favouring Muslims, they said, would only make the long odds against finding a job even longer.
Qualifications: Bachelor of Agriculture, Cairo University, 1998. Finished military service in 2000.
It was difficult to find work even before the 2011 popular uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak out of office, he said.
Like job-seekers around the world, he turns to the want ads.
“I read the daily jobs advertising in the Egyptian newspapers to look for a job in my field. I applied for many governmental jobs but really I couldn’t get any one.
“For example, one day I read a job advertising ‘Job contest’ in a newspaper related to my field. The Ministry of Agriculture was seeking agricultural engineers, and all the required qualifications like the age, degree, were very suitable for me to get this job. Really I was very qualified to get this job.
“So I immediately went to the Ministry of Agriculture and filled in its job application and presented a copy of all my papers — qualification, birth, military service, identity card.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 2001. As the only male child in his family, he was not required to enter the military.
Since his graduation 12 years ago, Mina said he has lived with his parents, unable to find work.
“I have applied to many jobs as an accountant in banks and governmental authorities, but I can’t get any job because I’m a Christian and I don’t have a big amount of money to pay for getting a job.
As with thousands of other Egyptians, regardless of religion, Mina says he sees little future in his homeland.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 1990. Completed military service 1991.
He has stopped applying for work for an employer. “There is no hope to get any job now,” he said. Instead of finding work to suit his degree, he supports his family by operating a small grocery store.