standard unemployment (search required), market definition for comparability across the various survey rounds. As for women, the unemployment rate in urban areas is found to be higher than the unemployment rate in rural areas in 2018, while the opposite was true in 2012. The higher female unemployment rate in rural areas compared to urban areas in 2012 is in line with the findings of El-Mallakh, Maurel, and Speciale (2018), who examined the impact of the 2011 revolution on intra-household differences in labor market outcomes between 2006 and 2012, and found that the gender gap in labor force participation decreased in the aftermath of the uprisings, as women started to actively search for employment, in particular women belonging to the poorest households.

The highly educated in Egypt are those with the highest risk of unemployment (Figure 6 and Figure 7). As shown in these figures, male and female unemployment rates are strikingly higher among highly educated individuals (those with secondary education and above).<sup>5</sup> Moreover, unemployment is also higher among the youth. Examining unemployment rates by age cohorts, Figure 8 and Figure 9 show that unemployment is highest among younger age groups and in particular among those aged between 15 and 24. These patterns are true for both men and women and suggest that unemployment in Egypt is especially pronounced at first entry in the labor market.

# **2.2 Descriptive statistics on unemployed individuals**

In this section, I present descriptive statistics on the sample of unemployed individuals. As presented in the introduction, the empirical analysis relies on panel data from the 2012 and 2018 rounds of the ELMPS. In 2018, the ELMPS tracks households and individuals that were previously interviewed in 2012, of which some were also interviewed in 1998 and 2006, while others belong to a new sample of individuals added in 2012. The total sample size in the panel is 13,763 households and 38,759 individuals.

The ELMPS has the advantage of providing rich information on Internet use. Individuals are asked whether they have home Internet access, if they use a computer in their job-hunting, if the computer is connected to the Internet, as well as information on Internet use at their workplace. Additionally, the ELMPS asks individuals if they use the Internet, where they use it (at home, at work, etc.), as well as the purpose of using it, which may include work, education or finding a job, among other purposes.

Table 1 presents the fraction of individuals with home Internet access, the fraction of individuals using the Internet to find a job, and the fraction of individuals using the Internet to find a job conditional on home Internet access, by labor market status and by year. The labor market status of individuals is defined according to the market definition of labor force participation (search

> 5 The less educated individuals are those without any educational degree (either illiterate or literate, without any diploma) or those with primary or preparatory education. The high educated individuals are those with either secondary education and above secondary education (either post-secondary institute or university and above).

6