Egyptian youth Mahmoud Saadoun has been struggling to find a job in Egypt since he spent a period of compulsory quarantine for a week, upon his return from Saudi Arabia.
Saadoun, a twenty-year-old from Upper Egypt, who used to work in the field of architecture, tells Al-Jazeera Net how the situation has changed due to the repercussions of the Corona virus (Covid-19) that affected his country and the Gulf states.
Saadoun is no longer in Egypt as he was in Saudi Arabia, despite the harassment he used to experience on a daily basis, especially with his sponsor, who did not stop imposing "monthly royalties" on him, according to the expression of the Egyptian youth.
The young man realizes that he will face shocks in Egypt, so he is racing against time in the search for a job in light of the difficult economic and living conditions that were reinforced by the Corona outbreak in Egypt, which is a barrier to his desire to provide the simple needs of his family consisting of his mother, wife and young child, according to him.
Difficulties and triggers
Corona's challenges pushed the decline of Egyptian workers flowing to the Gulf markets, as well as the intention of many of them to return to Egypt as a result of difficulties they face there, such as reducing their numbers and salaries, or forcing them to return.
As part of government endeavors, the Ministry of Immigration and Planning announced, in mid-May, the preparation of a data questionnaire for distribution to stranded Egyptians returning from abroad, to maximize the benefit from them, and to discuss providing opportunities for their integration, according to a statement.
Despite the measures and incentives announced by the government to support returning workers, Minister of Planning Hala Al-Saeed expected, according to a statement a few days ago, that unemployment rates in Egypt would be affected negatively if the Corona crisis continues.
On Tuesday, Al-Saeed revealed that 4.4 million people working in the formal and informal private sector lost their jobs because of Corona, according to local media.
In addition, the National Planning Institute (government) set scenarios that anticipate negative repercussions affected by the possible repercussions of the Corona crisis, that may raise the number of poor people in Egypt to 12.5 million citizens during the fiscal year 2020-2021.
Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest share of Egyptian labor in the Gulf labor market by about 2.5 to 3 million workers, followed by the UAE with about one million workers, then Kuwait with 750 thousand workers, then Oman with about 500 thousand workers, then Bahrain with about 250 thousand workers, and finally Qatar with about 100 One thousand workers, according to previous estimates of the Division for Placement of Work Abroad in the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.
Localization of jobs
The spread of the Corona virus and its economic repercussions reinforced the acceleration of the pace of job localization in the Gulf countries. In Kuwait, for example, there is a draft law before the National Assembly (Parliament) stipulating the layoff of 2.8 million migrant workers, and if passed, the number of Egyptians will reach 550 thousand workers. While only 142,000 Egyptian workers will be kept.
Saudi Arabia has previously announced its orientation towards "Saudization" of more than a million jobs during the current year 2020, unlike the contribution of an economic reform plan there to increase the burdens on Egyptian workers, after Riyadh imposed additional fees on the residents, which have already entered into force in 2017, and this year reached 400 Saudi riyals (approximately $ 106).
Return fears
Ahmed Mahmoud, an Egyptian electrician currently residing in Saudi Arabia, expressed in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net his fears of returning to Egypt because of the unemployment that awaits him, indicating that he decided to continue in Saudi Arabia despite Corona's fears and government restrictions or what he pays for his sponsor on a monthly basis, which compels him to deduct A large portion of what he gets from the money.
Mahmoud explained that he pays a monthly residence allowance of 500 riyals (the Saudi riyal is equivalent to about 0.27 dollars) and the same is a residential rent, in addition to his living expenses, and the renewal of the annual residence in the range of 1000 riyals (estimated according to the profession of the resident), and a monthly percentage paid to the sponsor in the range of 500 riyals (It is also a percentage that varies from one sponsor to another).
Despite this, the Egyptian worker affirms his ability to suffice his family in Egypt, stressing that the weak job opportunities in Saudi Arabia currently are better for him and others than returning to Egypt without work.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent spoke with workers in the professions of plumbing, air-conditioning, and refrigeration, who were forced to return to Egypt after their living conditions in Saudi Arabia were affected by the effects of Corona.
They said that before returning to Egypt, they asked for benefits from their families at home, and they also applied to the Egyptian embassy in Saudi Arabia for their assistance, but without a response from the latter, which was not available for official comment on it.
On the other hand, the Egyptian pharmacist Abdullah Hassan, who lives in Saudi Arabia, saw that the Saudi authorities did not differentiate between an expatriate and a citizen since the start of the crisis, saying that he feared for his family in Egypt more than he fears for himself in Saudi Arabia, which he believes addresses the crisis of Corona and arrivals well. , Despite measures to reduce salaries and reduce employment.
Historic return
In turn, the former Egyptian labor and parliamentarian leader, Tarek Morsi, said that the local and Arab atmosphere heralds a historic return to Egyptian labor, while the country does not bear more manpower and more unemployed.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Morsi expected that all types of Egyptian workers would bear the full burdens imposed by Corona and the political conditions in which the Arab reality lived.
He pointed out that at the internal level, employment faces the specter of catastrophic unemployment in Egypt, especially with the decline in the fields of tourism, investment and contracting, as well as the miserable future of the agricultural sector with the state of water poverty that the country has entered.
On the external level, according to Morsi, Egyptian labor has lost its livelihood in countries that have absorbed dense numbers such as Iraq and Libya, including the crises that these countries are experiencing.
He added that "the future of employment in the Gulf is not better due to Corona and the deterioration of oil prices, or the unstable political reality that the Gulf is experiencing, as well as the repercussions of the irresponsible political adventures undertaken by the Sisi regime in the region."
Moussa denounced the way the Egyptian government handled the crisis of suspended labor in the Gulf, especially what he described as "cheap opportunism" in its dealings with the Egyptian labor crisis in Kuwait.
He also accused the government of "making hostility to everything that is Egyptian, not only in Kuwait but in the entire Gulf," expecting that "the labor force will pay for that in the future."