The Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Revolution, edited by Ragui Assaad and Caroline Krafft. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015, 304 pp., ISBN: 9780198737254, Price £55.00, hardback.
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Author | Jonathan Preminger |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12199 |
Book Reviews 675
while Yang mentions that the data employed in her study are derived from fieldwork
(sometimes she uses the expression ‘ethnographic’, p. xviii), a little more could have
been done to explain the epistemological and methodological rationale for the case
studies, methods and tools foranalysis employed in the writing. The author might also
have sought to contextualize the history and geography of Changping a little more.
Notwithstanding these minor criticisms, this is an important book and is a
significant contribution to the field.
ANDREW LAW
Newcastle University
Refe renc e
Zhang, L. (2010). In Search of Paradise: Middle Class Living in a Chinese Metropolis.
Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.
The Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Revolution, edited by Ragui Assaad
and Caroline Krat. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015, 304 pp., ISBN:
9780198737254, Price £55.00, hardback.
The Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Revolution is a collection of articles
that together oer a broad picture of trends in the Egyptian labour market. Each
article is based on three extensive labour market surveys undertaken in 1998, 2006
and 2012, in which a significant percentage of participants were sampled in all
three rounds. These surveys oer a wealth of data, enabling key labour market
indicators to be tracked over time and various employment issues to be investigated:
labour supply and unemployment; wages and inequality; dierences between the
public and private sectors and the formal and informal economy; links between
education and employment; the participation of women; trends in the institution
of marriage (though the implications this has on the labour market are not spelled
out); Egyptian workers abroad; small household enterprises; and coverage of social
security.
This is an important work, which aims –– and succeeds –– in giving an overview of
what Egyptians face today in seeking work, and what kind of terms and conditions
they are likely to encounter if they find it. It is extremely rich in data, with excellent
graphs, though the wealth of information makes for a cumbersome read, with many
numbers to digest on every page. The emerging picture does not look good, with
high unemployment, increasing underemployment and a growing informal sector
characterized by low social insurance coverage and few employment-related benefits.
The decision to curtail government hiring closed o relatively stable employment for
those entering the job market, aecting women in particular. One glimmer of good
news: educational levels and literacy appear to be increasing.
However, the book presents the results of initial data processing alone, and is
weak on explanation. There is no critical engagement with the material, and little
attempt to link the studies’ findings with broader issues of neoliberalism and the
conflicts in the region. The title, ‘In an eraof revolution’ (and the cover photograph), is
misleading: revolutionbarely figures, despite claims such as ‘the Egyptian labor market
is thought to haveundergone substantial structural change especially with the January
C
2016 John Wiley& Sons Ltd/London School of Economics.
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