High unemployment in engineering, medicine, law and pharmacy

The seventh annual fair showcasing the projects of engineering students in the north echoed the unfavorable labor market situation in Lebanon thus calling for urgent actions to shift higher education to alternative specialties that could have better prospects for employment. The yearly exhibition was organized by the Order of Engineers and Architects in Tripoli under the patronage of the Minister of Labor, Sajaan Azzi. Azzi noted the presence of some 47 thousand engineers in the country with only some 8 thousand of those actually employed within Lebanon and much outside the country. Azzi estimated that some 35 thousand engineers are fully or partially unemployed, adding that the same applies to lawyers, physicians and pharmacists. Finally the Labor Minister called for an end to the present situation where unemployment levels among university youth graduates are ranging high between 25% and 36%. (As Safir, 27 July 2015)