The Egyptian-African Businessmen’s Association headed by Dr Yousrey Elsharkawi organized A conference entitled “Employment Challenges and the Future of Jobs in the African Continent” On August 24.
The conference stressed the importance of employment and serving the financial and business community in the African continent. Opening job opportunities and reducing unemployment rates.
ElSharkawi confirmed, In his speech during the conference held via Zoom technology, there are many future readings indicating that the African continent faces a great challenge in 2050, When it reaches 2.4 billion people, He explained that the share of African women in the labor market does not exceed 52%. He expected that 12 million opportunities would be required. Only 3.2 million are actually available per year.
The attendees discussed the challenges facing the continent, Emphasizing the need to activate the role of education and scientific research; To bring about a qualitative leap in the African industry, trade and investments.
The conference is an opportunity; To discuss challenges and find solutions to them, Some of the participants presented opinions that the Chinese presence in Africa does not provide employment opportunities for the people of the black continent. to provide those opportunities to Chinese citizens, Thus, the Chinese presence on the continent is not in the interest of employment in Africa, which requires the expansion of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship companies, Micro-enterprises contribute a large share to the African labor market.
Dr. Yousrey ElSharkawi thanked the conference’s organizing committee and the participants in it for finding solutions and coming up with recommendations and advice for those wishing to work to find an opportunity in the African labor market.
Dr. Maha Mahgoub noted, Chairman of the Labor and Social Responsibility Committee of the Association to the role of the field of human resources management to manage employment challenges and the future of jobs on the continent in light of the digital revolution, artificial intelligence and the information technology revolution, She stressed that there is a challenge to replace some jobs, Technological development will lead to the abolition of many jobs, But developing countries depend on the informal economy and work in the agricultural sector, Where poverty and low skills that cannot cope with technological development are widespread, This will lead to the loss of 65% of the current jobs.
She added that industry in most developing countries contributes only 10% of the GDP. As for the developed countries, they depend on machines and dispense with manpower. Therefore, it is necessary to rehabilitate the people of the continent and enable human capital from the digital economy and expand the use of technology and to face digitization that requires financial inclusion to keep pace with the rapid development in the field of information technology. Filling the gap that exists as a result of the lack of developed workers in the labor market, Therefore, human capital should be enhanced through education and curricula should be changed to suit the requirements of the labor market.
Ms. Lucy Carrutho, a consultant and business coach, confirmed, The importance of introducing positive business models to business management, And setting an integrated vision for businessmen in how to deal with employees to reach customer satisfaction with the level of services provided, Achieving quality, following pioneering policies, and defining targeted actions to implement business.
Dr. Amal Menoufy reviewed the studies and statistics announced by the African Union. On employment opportunities on the continent and the loss of the African market of 50 million jobs in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, She stressed that the African market was growing rapidly before the pandemic, But the recession that accompanied the pandemic made the growth rates on the continent -2%, After it was 7% before the pandemic, The target for growth rates in the continent this year is 3.8%. The African Development Bank indicates that the higher the growth rate by 1%, the higher the rate of growth. The more jobs are half a percent, and the population growth in the continent is 8.3%, while the employment growth rate is only 1.8%. This means that the employment rates on the continent are not proportional to the population growth rates.
ElSharkawi stressed the importance of reducing the unemployment rate in the African continent. Especially since the statistics and reports that were presented and not presented now confirm that Africa suffers from a large gap compared to the international community with regard to employment opportunities.
. Amir Sharif spoke, Chairman of the Board of Directors of an electronic recruitment platform, On the digitization of the labor market in Africa and existing policies and solutions to unemployment data, The difficulties that exist in this market and the difference in employment rates between men and women, And the future of this market in light of the Corona pandemic, Stressing the need for government support for entrepreneurship companies, And the importance of raising capabilities and skills in light of the changing nature of jobs that require special skills, Pointing to the importance of electronic recruitment, which provides a long time and better opportunities.