CAIRO, May 17 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's unemployment rate fell to 12.8 percent in the first quarter of the year 2015, compared to 13.4 in the first quarter of the previous year, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics said on Sunday. 

CAPMAS cited an "improvement" in economic activities for the decline in the unemployment rate, in a statement.

The unemployment rate of the first quarter is an improvement by 0.1 percent from the preceding quarter, when it was 12.9 percent.  

CAPMAS said the workforce grew to 27.7 million people in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, rising by 149,000 people or by 0.5 percent compared to the first quarter in the preceding year.

Egypt's workforce represents a third of the nation's population, which is currently 88.7 million. 

Of the total workforce, 3.5 million people are unemployed. Three of each four unemployed people are degree holders, CAPMAS said.

Egypt's economic outlook has witnessed several upgrades in the past few months, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's administration, now in power for a year, has largely focused on fixing Egypt's struggling economy.

The Egyptian government has launched several large-scale national projects to curb unemployment. 

CORRECTED – This article initially referred to the reporting period as the first quarter of the current fiscal year. It has been corrected to show that the reporting period is the first three months of 2015.