Egypt says unemployment falls to 10.6 percent

Egypt's statistics agency says unemployment has fallen in the first quarter of 2018 to 10.6 percent compared to 11.3 percent in the three months prior.

CAPMAS says in a Tuesday statement that the decrease amounted to a 1.4 percent drop compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

It estimates Egypt's labor force at 29.2 million people — down 86,000 from the previous quarter due to seasonal work — with the number of unemployed at 3.1 million people.

Egypt's economy is still recovering from a costly 2011 popular uprising and years of political instability. The government secured a $12 billion loan from the IMF in 2016 and launched an austerity program that has included subsidy cuts.

The country has a large informal labor sector not reflected in unemployment statistics.