Series information
The Economic Research Forum (ERF) in cooperation with Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has carried out The Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) during the years 1998, 2006, 2012, and 2018. In 2023, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) and the Economic Research Forum (ERF) signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding to conduct the fifth (2023) round of the ELMPS. The series also includes two waves in Jordan (JLMPS 2010 and 2016), one wave in Tunisia (TLMPS 2014) and one wave in Sudan (SLMPS 2022).
The comparable data from the special round of the Labor Force Survey carried out in October 1988 by CAPMAS is also appended to the data series.
Abstract
The Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) has been carried out in 1998, 2006, 2012, and 2018 by the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in cooperation with Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). Tracking a panel of households and individuals over 25 years, the data have become the workhorse of research on labor markets, human development, migration, family formation, and social protection in Egypt. In 2023, a tripartite memorandum of understanding was signed by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, CAPMAS and ERF to conduct the fifth (2023) round of the ELMPS.
This fifth wave of the ELMPs leverages the ELMPS panel to examine how Egypt's labor market has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent developments in the Egyptian economy. The questionnaire builds on the questionnaires used in previous waves, which will facilitate data comparability. The ELMPS series covers topics such as parental background, education, housing, access to services, residential mobility, migration and remittances, time use, marriage patterns and costs, fertility, women's decision making and empowerment, job dynamics, savings and borrowing behavior, the operation of household enterprises and farms, besides the usual focus on employment, unemployment and earnings in typical labor force surveys. The recent ELMPSs also provide information on health, gender role attitudes, food security, hazardous work, community infrastructure, the cost of housing, and specific questions on vulnerability, coping strategies and access to social safety net programs. A full time use diary for adolescents and adults aged ten and older is included in the time use module starting in 2023, in addition to a shorter summary version for children aged 6 to 9.
In addition to the survey's panel design, which permits the study of various phenomena over time, the survey also contains a large number of retrospective questions about the timing of major life events such as education, residential mobility, jobs, marriage and fertility. The survey provides detailed information about place of birth and subsequent residence, as well information about schools and universities attended at various stages of an individual's trajectory, which permit the individual records to be linked to information from other data sources about the geographic context in which the individual lived and the educational institutions s/he attended.
Specific questions on the impact of COVID-19 and pressing issues in Egypt's labor market have been added for 2023, as well as questions on the green economy, the digital/gig economy, and skills, which have important labor market and policy implications for Egypt.
The ELMPS 2023 captured 70,636 individuals and 17,784 households. Of these, 50,268 individuals and 13,565 households were tracked from 2018 to 2023.
The series of Labor Market Panel survey (LMPS) also includes two waves in Jordan (JLMPS 2010 and 2016), one wave in Tunisia (TLMPS 2014) and one wave in Sudan (SLMPS 2022).
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For more information on the ELMPS series, see:
Assaad, R. and C. Krafft. 2024. Introducing the Egypt Labor Market Panel survey 2023. ERF Working Paper No. 1748.
https://erf.org.eg/publications/introducing-the-egypt-labor-market-panel-survey-2023/
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"We acknowledge the financial support of the International Labour Organization through the Government of the Netherlands and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, World Bank Poverty and Equity Global Practice supported by the UK-funded Strategic Partnership for Egypt’s Inclusive Growth trust fund (SPEIG TF), and World Bank MENA Chief Economist office, Agence Française de Développement, Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, Egypt, and UNICEF for the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2023."