Each month, the wage is available in, and each month, it disappears simply as shortly. Hire, groceries, transport, faculty charges, the record by no means ends. For a lot of Egyptians, monetary stability feels tougher to succeed in, even with full-time work. The mathematics merely doesn’t work the best way it used to.
In 2023, common wages rose by roughly 17 %, and the federal government later elevated the minimal wage to EGP 7,000 (USD 150) in July 2025. However even these changes haven’t saved up with how briskly costs have been rising. In March 2023, inflation hit 31.9 %, virtually double the tempo of wage development, with meals costs leaping by greater than 60 %.
By August 2024, inflation was nonetheless excessive at 26.2 %, pushed up by necessities like meals, transport, and electrical energy. In apply, households are incomes barely extra on paper, however as a result of costs are rising a lot quicker, their cash buys lower than it did earlier than, as each leap in salaries is shortly overtaken by one other rise in on a regular basis prices.
The squeeze has been deeper and extra persistent for employees on mounted public salaries and for these in Egypt’s casual sector, roughly 60 % of the workforce, together with jobs with out formal contracts, social insurance coverage, or assured advantages, comparable to road distributors and day laborers.
Minimal wage changes have been intermittent and small in contrast with worth shocks. The result’s a working inhabitants that usually works full-time but nonetheless struggles to cowl primary bills.
It has been frequent for each spouses in Egyptian households to work a number of jobs simply to get by. Low-income employees, usually in insecure positions with out social safety or assured advantages, are pressured to deal with heavy workloads and get second jobs. Even younger Egyptians from comparatively comfy backgrounds are more and more taking up aspect jobs to maintain up with rising dwelling prices and excessive annual inflation.
Numbers inform a part of the story. The opposite half is lived expertise. Mariam Ahmed, a advertising affiliate at Zilla Capital, defined how her wage barely covers the prices of labor itself.
“Most of my revenue goes to gasoline to get to and from work, and to cowl meals in the course of the day,” she mentioned. “There’s little or no left for anything. I really feel like I’m working simply to maintain my job.”
Her expertise displays a wider problem: gasoline costs have risen steadily, with the October 2025 enhance averaging about 18 %. Transportation now consumes a rising share of wages, as Egypt’s system stays closely street‑primarily based, with over 10 million licensed automobiles on the roads, with personal automobiles making up greater than half. Every gasoline‑worth hike straight reduces take‑dwelling pay.
Rola Ali, 26, a former Human Assets (HR) government at a college, described related struggles with monetary independence. She continued to depend on her mom for necessities comparable to meals, water, and housing.
“My wage solely coated outings and gasoline for my automobile,” she mentioned. “For different private requirements, I obtained a month-to-month allowance from my mom.”
Even with this assist, she might save solely round EGP 1,000 to 2,000 (USD 21 to 42) monthly, usually proscribing herself considerably to take action.
From her expertise in HR, Ali noticed the issue from each side. Round 60 to 70 % of candidates rejected job provides she introduced as a result of the workload didn’t match the salaries supplied. It’s a sample that underscores a broader frustration with pay, and a rising sense that even exhausting work now not ensures monetary stability.
Collectively, these tales illustrate the human aspect of Egypt’s revenue actuality. Rising dwelling prices, repeated gasoline hikes, and wages that fail to maintain tempo depart many staff navigating a each day tightrope. Even these in full-time, skilled positions usually battle to realize independence or monetary stability, relying as a substitute on household assist or excessive budgeting simply to make ends meet.
Why did this mismatch emerge? The mismatch between pay and costs is rooted in broader financial adjustments, and official knowledge exhibits why. Egypt’s pound has been devalued repeatedly since 2022, dropping a good portion of its worth towards the greenback. In 2022, a USD 1 value round EGP 19. By late 2025, the speed was about EGP 47.5, a greater than 140 % depreciation of the pound.
That makes imported items, from meals to drugs, rather more costly. On the similar time, the federal government has minimize subsidies, authorities assist that saved necessities like gasoline and electrical energy cheaper, decreasing its personal budgetary burden however passing the fee on to on a regular basis customers.
The pressure on households highlights extra than simply numbers. It reveals the actual limits of each day life underneath present financial pressures. Households are adjusting, sacrificing, and stretching each pound, whereas the system round them struggles to maintain tempo.
With out clear, predictable insurance policies on wages, subsidies, and social protections, the hole between revenue and dwelling prices is prone to widen additional, leaving work as a supply of stress somewhat than stability. The alternatives made now will decide whether or not Egyptians can reclaim a way of economic safety or proceed navigating life on a precarious tightrope.
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