The Banking Executive Magazine - January 2022 Issue

labor market in Egypt, and the eco- nomic industry as a whole. In the other hand, it will create vacancies and opportunities to replace. Finally, Egypt’s entry into the crisis of COVID-19 and with a labor market suffering from many structural defi- ciencies has worsened the economic situation and increased its problems, as a result of education system that does not serve the market require- ments, a disrupted wage structure, unemployment among young peo- ple, the absence of employment op- portunities in specific governorates as well as weak institutional and leg- islative framework. One of the posi- tive points is that the crisis forced everyone to adopt and follow health safety measures and standards. THE INTERVENTIONS REQUIRED TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS According to the International Labor Organization, there are four main pillars to deal with the crisis and end up with the least losses in the labor market, as follows: 1. Stimulating the economy and em- ployment: this includes adopting active fiscal policies and mone- tary policies, while directing fi- nancial support and incentive packages toward the most hit sec- tors, which directly reflects on the ability to boost the economy and to maintain workers. 2. Supporting enterprises, jobs and incomes: extending the scope of social insurance to everyone, tak- ing supportive retirement meas- ures, and providing enterprises with financial relief and tax ex- emptions. 3. Protection of workers in the workplace: enhancing occupa- tional health and safety standards, adapting to emergency condi- tions such as working from home, preventing discrimination and exclusion between workers, pro- viding health insurance and ex- panding access to paid leave. 4. Adopting social dialogue to come up with sound solutions: enhanc- ing the role of workers and trade unions and their collective bar- gaining power. With regard to the unified minimum wage, the economic nature of each sector must be taken into account considering economic efficiency and given the existence of large differ- ences among them in terms of labor intensity and productivity as well as profitability, being the most impor- tant element in determining the ex- tent of the sector's ability to pay appropriate wages to workers. Social justice also entails that minimum wage must be variable according to the standard of living, which varies from one governorate to another. INSTITUTIONAL WEAKNESSES REVEALED BY THE CRISIS • The absence of accurate databases for supply and demand sides of the labor market that allow for effec- tive coordination between them according to the skill level. • The poor performance of the edu- cational system, especially the technical and financial, and the need for a fundamental change therein to overcome the problem of structural unemployment per- manently. • The extreme weakness of the abil- ity to invest in human resources in general, especially by the govern- ment, as it is the main factor re- sponsible for many weaknesses in the Egyptian economy and labor market. • Failure of employment policies to keep pace with labor market devel- opments. • Absent of the technological dimen- sion and digital transformation from the employment system. ISSUE 157 JANUARY 2022 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 45