CAIRO, Nov 15 (Aswat Masriya) – The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported on Saturday a decline in the rate of unemployment in Egypt during the third quarter of the year by 0.2 percent compared to the second quarter, as unemployment rate stood at 13.1 percent.

CAPMAS said in a report that Egypt's labour force in the third quarter of the year stood at 27.6 million persons, increasing by 80 thousand persons from the second quarter. The number of those unemployed meanwhile stood at 3.6 million.

CAPMAS reported that 9.6 percent of the male labour force is unemployed, decreasing from 9.8 percent during the previous quarter. Unemployment rate among the female labour force is over twice as much; standing at 24.5 percent, as opposed to 25.8 percent during the second quarter of this year.

Unemployment rate increased in urban cities by one percent from the previous quarter, reaching 16 percent of the labour force. CAPMAS reported a lower rate in rural areas; 10.9 percent, as opposed to 11.9 percent during the previous quarter.

Almost 64.3 percent of those unemployed belong to the youth segment, aged between 15 and 29.

Educated youth make up the majority of the unemployed sector; 75.4 percent. Twenty-seven percent of those unemployed are university graduates.

Egypt suffers from a relatively high unemployment rate. It has the 41st highest unemployment rate ranking internationally, according to the Central Intelligence Agency's factbook.