Abstract
Informal employment is the hallmark of developing economies. Egypt is no exception to this trend. Those who are informally employed are exceptionally vulnerable as they lack social protection. Moreover, large informal sectors are symptomatic of underdevelopment and have negative repercussions on the economy. Few studies examine the determinants of labor market transitions in Egypt with a focus on transitions between formal and informal labor market states. This study focuses on determinants of labor market transitions in Egypt, relying on the Egyptian Labor Market Panel Surveys of 2012 and 2018. It develops four multinomial logistic regression models to achieve this goal. The main independent variables examined are education, gender, age group, father’s level of education (a proxy for social class), and area of residence. The findings reveal the immobility of Egyptian women in the labor market except if they are moving to unemployment or inactivity. The youth seem to be particularly vulnerable as they are less likely to transition from informal to formal salaried employment. Moreover, self-employment is less accessible to the youth (hence they are less likely to transition to it), and youth in self-employment are less likely to remain/succeed there. This effectively means the youth are trapped in informal salaried employment. Moreover, educational attainment increases the odds of transition towards formal salaried employment and reduces flows out of it. The study also finds that non-employed, highly educated individuals are queuing in non-employment until they can find a position in formal salaried employment.
School
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
Department
Public Policy & Administration Department
Degree Name
MA in Public Policy
Graduation Date
Summer 6-15-2022
Submission Date
5-23-2022
First Advisor
Rana Hindy
Committee Member 1
Ghada Barsoum
Committee Member 2
Dina Abdel Fattah
Extent
112 p.
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval
Not necessary for this item
Recommended Citation
APA Citation
Mahmoud Al-Barrawi, A.
(2022).Labor Transitions between Formal and Informal Employment in Egypt [Master's Thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1916
MLA Citation
Mahmoud Al-Barrawi, Alaa. Labor Transitions between Formal and Informal Employment in Egypt. 2022. American University in Cairo, Master's Thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1916