A day after International Labor Day, members of trade unions, public workers and opposition groups gathered to call for an increase in the national minimum wage, set at 35 Egyptian pounds ($6) a month since 1984. They said it should rise to 1,200 pounds ($215).

Analysts are watching closely to see if Egyptian labor groups could become an influential political force ahead of a parliamentary poll due in October and a presidential election expected next year.

In February, some 400 employees from the Tanta Linen, Flax and Oil Company, in the Nile Delta, staged a 16-day sit-in.

They were followed by various disgruntled textile workers, employees of an agricultural engineering company and staff from the ministry of local development.

Different professions including taxi drivers and nurses have taken part in industrial actions across the country.

There are common causes for complaints. Many Egyptians have low incomes and feel they have not benefited from recent economic growth.

A lot have experienced problems with new employers following privatization of state industries.

In April 2008, there was a heavy security crackdown following efforts to put a strike by 27,000 workers at a state-owned factory in Mahalla al-Kubra at the center of national action to protest low wages and high inflation.

The latest demonstration was unusual for its anti-government sentiment and close involvement of the political opposition.

Excerpted from an article by Yolande Knell for BBC News

According to a recent study by the Earth Centre for Studies almost half a million (460,000) Egyptians have successfully entered Europe illegally in the last decade, and 90,000 live in Italy alone.

Another study into attitudes towards migration by the Arabic Labour Organisation is equally revealing.

It found that 50% of students who take up postgraduate studies in Europe or the United States don’t return to Egypt, meaning the country is losing some of its brightest and most talented pupils.

Two thousand young people took part in the study and when asked whether they would like to live and work abroad, 50% said yes.

According to official figures, about 10% of Egypt population of 70 million is unemployed. But some analysts believe the figure could be much higher, and there have been calls for the government and the private sector to work harder to find jobs for millions of people who are out of work.

Migration, legal or illegal, is seen by most Egyptians as a way of finding work and getting rich – despite the risks and costs. Hundreds of thousands of people have left already and in some areas the effects can be seen and felt.

Some people send home remittances, which can also have some surprising downsides.

A recent report published in an Egyptian daily newspaper found that a village in one of Egypt’s poorest governorates had seen a sharp increase in land prices. Prices had risen because about 13,000 people from the village work in Italy and had sent money to their families to buy land and build Italian-style villas.

Excerpted from an article by Mahmoud al-Sayed and Dina al-Naggar for BBC News