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Wages and Inequality in the Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Financial Crisis and Revolution

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  • Mona Said

    (American University in Cairo)

Abstract

This paper investigates the pattern of wages and wage inequality in Egypt over the period 1988-2012, a time of substantial economic and political changes, including the recent global financial crises and the January 25th 2011 revolution. This analysis is based on four nationally representative labor market surveys: the special round of the Egyptian Labor Force Sample Survey (LFSS) carried out in October 1988, the 1998 Egypt Labor Market Survey (ELMS), and the 2006 and 2012 rounds of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS). The analysis in the paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 introduces the main stylized facts and structural features of real wage and inequality in the Egyptian labor market during the recent liberalization episodes. Section 3 describes the wage determination model used in calculating wage differentials and returns to education. Section 4 discusses the wage estimation results, while focusing on public-private and gender wage gaps and changes in returns to education over the past decade. Finally, section 5 concludes and draws implications for the reform of the labor market in the wake of the financial crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Mona Said, 2015. "Wages and Inequality in the Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Financial Crisis and Revolution," Working Papers 912, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:912
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cho, Yoonyoung & Newhouse, David, 2013. "How Did the Great Recession Affect Different Types of Workers? Evidence from 17 Middle-Income Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 31-50.
    2. G. Reza Arabsheibani, 2000. "Male-Female Earnings Differentials Among the Highly Educated Egyptians," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 129-138.
    3. Rania Roushdy & May Gadallah, 2011. "Labor Market Adjustment during the World Financial Crisis: Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 643, Economic Research Forum, revised 10 Jan 2011.
    4. Fatma El-Hamidi, 2006. "General or Vocational Schooling? Evidence on School Choice, Returns, and 'Sheepskin' Effects from Egypt 1998," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 157-176.
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    Cited by:

    1. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in the Labor Market for Higher Education Graduates in Egypt and Jordan," International Economic Association Series, in: Ishac Diwan & Ahmed Galal (ed.), The Middle East Economies in Times of Transition, chapter 5, pages 159-185, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Yassin, Shaimaa & Langot, François, 2018. "Informality, public employment and employment protection in developing countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 326-348.
    3. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2008. "Public versus Private Sector Wage Gap in Egypt: Evidence from Quantile Regression on Panel Data," MPRA Paper 89540, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Assaad, Ragui & Krafft, Caroline, 2015. "Is free basic education in Egypt a reality or a myth?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 16-30.
    5. David Cobham & Abdallah Zouache, 2015. "Economic Features of the Arab Spring," Working Papers 975, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2015.
    6. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Colette Salemi, 2023. "Socioeconomic Status and the Changing Nature of School-to-Work Transitions in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(4), pages 697-723, August.
    7. Mesbah Fathy Sharaf & Ahmed Shoukry Rashad & Elhussien Ibrahim Mansour, 2019. "Son Preference and Child Under nutrition in the Arab Countries: Is There a Gender Bias against Girls?," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 205-230, July.
    8. Quentin T. Wodon & Brooks Evans & Chata Male & Adenike Onagoruwa & Aboudrahyme Savadogo & Ali Yedan, 2016. "Egypt Note," World Bank Publications - Reports 28411, The World Bank Group.
    9. Ahmed Elsayed & Soiliou Daw Namoro & Rania Roushdy, 2022. "Empowering women in conservative settings: evidence from an intervention in rural Egypt," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1287-1322, December.
    10. Krafft Caroline & Assaad Ragui, 2021. "Introducing the Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey 2016," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-42, January.
    11. Ille, Sebastian & Peacey, Mike W., 2019. "Forced private tutoring in Egypt: Moving away from a corrupt social norm," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 105-118.
    12. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2020. "Public-private sector wage gap by gender in Egypt: Evidence from quantile regression on panel data, 1998–2018," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    13. Rami Galal & Mona Said, 2018. "The Evolution of Wage Formation and Inequality in Jordan in 2010-2016," Working Papers 1209, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Jun 2018.
    14. Langsten, Ray & Hassan, Tahra, 2018. "Primary education completion in Egypt: Trends and determinants," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 136-145.
    15. Ioannis Bournakis & Mona Said & Antonio Savoia & Francesco Savoia, 2021. "Regional Income Inequality in Egypt: Evolution and Implications for Sustainable Development Goal 10," LIS Working papers 798, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    16. Zakarya Al Zalak & Anne Goujon, 2017. "Exploring the fertility trend in Egypt," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(32), pages 995-1030.
    17. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2008. "Public versus Private Sector Wage Gap in Egypt: Evidence from Quantile Regression on Panel Data," MPRA Paper 89540, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Schmoll, Moritz, 2020. "Weak street-level enforcement of tax laws: the role of tax collectors’ persistent but broken public service expectations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104601, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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