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Decline in Social Mobility: Unfulfilled Aspirations among Egypt's Educated Youth

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  • Binzel, Christine

    (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)

Abstract

This paper studies how the gradual suspension of an employment guarantee scheme for secondary and post-secondary graduates has affected intergenerational mobility across well-educated cohorts in Egypt. The empirical results support suggestive evidence in the Middle East of a decline in social mobility among the increasingly well-educated youth. The results further indicate that unequal opportunities are due to difficulties in attaining high-level occupations in the formal private sector for graduates from a lower socio-economic background, and that personal connections may play a decisive role. Thus, aside from credit market imperfections, labor market constraints may be important in explaining low social mobility.

Suggested Citation

  • Binzel, Christine, 2011. "Decline in Social Mobility: Unfulfilled Aspirations among Egypt's Educated Youth," IZA Discussion Papers 6139, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6139
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ragui Assaad & Christine Binzel & May Gadallah, 2010. "Transitions To Employment And Marriage Among Young Men In Egypt," Middle East Development Journal (MEDJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(01), pages 39-88.
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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. Zimmermann, Klaus F. & Biavaschi, Costanza & Eichhorst, Werner & Giulietti, Corrado & Kendzia, Michael J. & Muravyev, Alexander & Pieters, Janneke & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria & Schmidl, Ricarda, 2013. "Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 9(1–2), pages 1-157, December.
    3. Doruk, Ömer Tuğsal & Pastore, Francesco, 2022. "Getting Stuck in the Status Quo Ante: Evidence from the Egyptian Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 15003, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. driouchi, ahmed & Gamar, Alae, 2015. "Is there a Gatsby Curve for Educational Attainment in Arab Countries?," MPRA Paper 63869, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 22 Apr 2015.
    6. Saidi Anis & Hamdaoui Mekki, 2021. "Level of Fairness and Justice in Labor Market: Evidence from Tunisia Post-Revolution," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1187-1214, September.
    7. Eleonora Bertoni & Giorgio Ricchiuti, 2017. "A Multilevel Analysis of Unemployment in Egypt," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 31(4), pages 494-514, December.
    8. Driouchi, Ahmed & Harkat, Tahar, 2017. "An Empirical Descriptive Analysis of the Factors underlying the Role of Younger Generations in Economic, Social & Political Changes in Arab Countries," MPRA Paper 77216, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Lire Ersado & Jérémie Gignoux, 2014. "Inequality of Educational Opportunities in Egypt," Working Papers halshs-01064510, HAL.
    10. Assaad, Ragui & Krafft, Caroline, 2017. "Excluded Generation: The Growing Challenges of Labor Market Insertion for Egyptian Youth," IZA Discussion Papers 10970, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Reham Rizk, 2016. "Returns to Education: An Updated Comparison from Arab Countries," Working Papers 986, Economic Research Forum, revised Apr 2016.
    12. Lire Ersado & Jérémie Gignoux, 2017. "Egypt: inequality of opportunity in education," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 22-54, January.
    13. Abdel-Rahman, Alaa & Fuller, David, 2014. "Education and employment in Egypt: the policies, discrepancies and possible solutions," MPRA Paper 67571, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & John Roemer & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in Income and Consumption in Egypt," Working Papers 1002, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    15. Driouchi, Ahmed & Gamar, Alae, 2016. "The Gap between Educational & Social Intergenerational Mobility in Arab Countries," MPRA Paper 73998, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    intergenerational mobility; Islamic revival; schooling; labor market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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