The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed on Saturday that the unemployment rate in Egypt rose up to 13 percent during the last quarter of 2012 compared to only 5.12 percent during the third quarter of the same year.

CAPMAS attributed the significant increase in this rate to a slowdown of economic activities during that period.

Seventy-eight percent of the unemployed have college degrees, said a statement issued by CAMPAS.

The statement added that the number of employees dropped from October to December 2012 by 5.23 million marking a decrease of two percent.

The number of unemployed reached 5.3 million persons, including 13 percent of the labor force along with an increase of 162 thousand jobless persons, an increase estimated at 8.4 percent compared to the third quarter of last year.

The unemployment rate among males reached 9.1 percent of the total male labor force, while the unemployment rate among women is 28 percent.