Traditional craft work: Copper engraving
Courtesy Embassy of Egypt, Washington

Mashrabiyah woodwork
CourÍÍÍÍtesy Embassy of Egypt, Washington

Creating jobs for a rapidly growing population has been one of the most difficult tasks that faced successive Egyptian governments. After 1976 the population grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent. Reliable information on the occupational structure was scarce, partly because of the fast pace at which this structure changed, of the rural-urban migration, and of the dearth of indepth studies.

Data as of December 1990