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Egyptian Graduates Face Dim Job Prospects

Cairo law student Sharouq El-Rays (second from right) talks with NPR's Robert Siegel, right.  Commerce student Ramy Hamed, center, and computer science major Tamer Fathy, left, listen.
Julia Buckley, NPR
Cairo law student Sharouq El-Rays (second from right) talks with NPR's Robert Siegel, right. Commerce student Ramy Hamed, center, and computer science major Tamer Fathy, left, listen.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of young Egyptians graduate from the nation's schools and universities, then struggle to find jobs that make use of their education.

Ahmed Galel, director of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, has written about Egyptian unemployment. He says that higher education in Egypt often lacks a payoff.

"Returns are not made for investments that you made in educating these kids," Galal says.

And in a discussion with a small group of students, it's easy to see that they are not hopeful about their future.

Ramy Hamed, who is studying commerce, says he's more pessimistic than optimistic about his job prospects. "I don't think I'll find work that I'll like," he says.

Sharouq El-Rays, a female law student, says there are few public-service jobs for women in Egypt's justice system. "It's only for men…" she says.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.
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