The Impact of Agricultural Employment on The Growth of Agricultural Sector in Egypt

The agricultural employment is considered one of the most important economic resources affecting the agricultural development, because it organizes the agricultural resources to obtain the optimal combination that achieves the full employment for the available resources. The problem of the research is summarized in the decline of the relative importance forthe agricultural employment from the total employment in Egypt, in coincidence with the decline in the share of the agricultural sector in the Egyptian GDP, which reflects the declining performance of the Egyptian agricultural sector as one of the most important sectors that create the employment opportunities. Based on the mentioned problem, the research aims at analyzing the impact of the agricultural employment on the performance of the agricultural sector in Egypt, through analyzing the dynamic co-integrated relationship between the agricultural employment and the agricultural GDP as an indicator for the performance of the agricultural sector. The research has based mainly on time-series data that published by the Ministry of Planning (Economic and Social Development Plan) and the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (Statistical Yearbook).
The results of the unit root test for the time-series of the agricultural employment and the agricultural GDP indicated that they were non-stationary at the Level, and they have become stationary in the first difference. The results also showed that the time-series for the residuals resulting from estimating the regression relationship between these two variables is stationary at the level. Consequently, the results indicate that there is co-integration relationship between the agricultural employment and the agricultural GDP.
By estimating the Error Correction Model (ECM) between the agricultural employment and the agricultural GDP, the results showed that there is a statistically significant long-term relationship between them. The error correction coefficient is estimated to be 0.10, meaning that 10% of the imbalance in the long-term relationship between the agricultural employment and the agricultural GDP is corrected in one year. The minus value of the error correction coefficient is a clear proof on the significance of the long-term relationship between the agricultural employment and the agricultural GDP. Based on these findings, the research concluded the following recommendations:
increasing the agricultural investments in order to boost the agricultural sector, and to increase the agricultural GDP on the one hand, and increase the agricultural employment on the other hand.
generating more productive employment opportunities in the agricultural sector, in order to reduce the agricultural unemployment and increasing the agricultural GDP.
Developing the agricultural training centers in order to develop the human capacities to achieve the agricultural development objectives.
Providing the necessary funding for reclamation of arable land, and distribute these pieces of lands between the unemployed people, in order to reduce the unemployment rate and increase the agricultural GDP.
Paying attention making transforming training programs to achieve the full employment for labor resource according to the needs of the employment market, and providing the needed investments to establish these programs and centers.