Egypt’s home delivery workers: Toward integration in the formal economy?

Ahram Online attempted to obtain official figures from the concerned ministries, the International Labour Organisation and the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), to determine the number of home delivery couriers operating in the country, yet the concerned authorities had no clear figures in this respect.

However, an examination of the databases of a number of home delivery applications suggests that home delivery couriers working in Egypt could exceed 500,000, which is about one-third of the country's irregular workers.

Home delivery workers usually work 12-hour shifts without health insurance or pensions and cannot rely on a stable income.

Many couriers work through registering on a database for various online home delivery platform applications without entering into a direct contractual relationship with the business owner.

These app couriers receive between 10 to 20 percent as a commission per order and rely heavily on tips, according to Sayed El-Aasmar and Mohamed El-Tayar, two couriers who spoke to Ahram Online.

They use their own motorcycles or means of transportation in their delivery work, paying for gasoline and repairs.