The Zabaleen area, where the waste from Egypt’s capital is sorted, is seeing demand for its recycled materials surge as the war on Iran disrupts imports. But rising costs and new competitors mean the traditional recyclers aren’t necessarily better off.
Published On 31 Aug 202631 Aug 2026
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Falling job-growth numbers drive more people to the gig economy to supplement their income.
The preliminary and seasonally adjusted job-growth numbers for July issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on August 7, paint a picture of a continuing slowing economy, as the agency reported an overall loss of 23,000 non-farm jobs over the month.
The numbers come on the heels of the Bureau’s revised May and June numbers, which reduced the total number of jobs by 103,000, resulting in 63,000 and 20,000 added jobs, respectively.
“The three-month average payroll gain collapsed by more than a third,” wrote Frances Donal, chief economist at RBC, and Mike Reid, head of US economics at RBC, in an analysis note released before the BLS report. “Net revisions to the prior two months subtracted more jobs than were created in June.”
Financial activities lost 14,000 jobs, with credit intermediation and related activities losing 9,000, while insurance carriers and related activities lost 7,000. The sub-sector for securities, commodity contracts, funds, trusts, other financial vehicles, investments, and related activities added a modest 1,000 jobs over the same period.
Healthcare was a standout in July, adding 22,000 jobs.
Once again, there is little correlation between the employment data issued by the Bureau and that published in the ADP National Employment Report for the month, which is slightly more optimistic.
Using its own methodology developed with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, the authors of the ADP report estimated a gain of 44,000 in U.S. private employment in July, with financial activities gaining 10,000 jobs. Only education and health services beat that gain by adding an estimated 36,000 new jobs. Professional and business services experienced the third-largest gain, adding 9,000 jobs last month.
Findings of the Bank of America Institute’s Employment Report for July, based on anonymized client data, suggest that what job growth occurred in July came from lower-income households, which saw an estimated 2% year-on-year growth, up from 1.7% in June. Higher-income households saw approximately a third of the job growth of lower-income households, while middle-income households saw jobs contract by less than 1%.
The report’s authors noted that the share of fully employed clients active in the gig economy, which has continued to grow over the past three years, is not abating.
The authors conclude that some households are using gig work to “top up” their regular paychecks. In June, nearly half of the gig workers earned income from gig work for only one month in the past 12 months, while 74% of gig workers earned income for three months over the same timeframe.
The gig work that has seen the greatest growth in participation since 2024 is “social commerce,” as thrifting becomes increasingly important to households, the authors write. The number of households seeking to make a little extra via ridesharing, food delivery, content creation, and vacation rentals has returned to close to 2024 levels, with little change.
Rob Daly covers fintech and the economy. Contact him at rdaly@gfmag.com.
Five years after Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended parliament and attained sweeping powers, the country remains sharply divided, grappling with a severe economic downturn and a worsening political deadlock.
Saied’s supporters continue to view the measures taken by him in July 2021 – when he suspended parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi – as a necessary “correction” to save the country. The opposition says that since then, state institutions have collapsed, promises have gone unfulfilled, and there has been an unprecedented concentration of power in his hands.
Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Ma Waraa al-Khabar (Behind the News) programme, political and economic experts debated the legacy of Saied’s five-year rule, painting a picture of an economy hindered by a poor business climate, populist policies, and a lack of clear vision.
Since Saied assumed near-total control of the levers of power five years ago, Tunisia’s economic indicators have largely plummeted.
Ridha Chkoundali, an economics professor at the University of Tunisia, said that the investment rate in the country has dropped from an average of 20 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) between 2015 and 2019 to just 8 percent in 2023.
Chkoundali attributed this sharp decline to an environment that drives away investment, exacerbated by a significant burden from taxes, which have risen by five percentage points since 2015.
Taxation, he argued, is no longer used to stimulate investment but simply to collect revenues at the expense of economic growth.
The crisis has hit ordinary Tunisians the hardest. Food inflation has reached nearly three times the general average, severely eroding purchasing power. Meanwhile, unemployment has surged, particularly among university graduates, pushing many to leave the country for better economic opportunities abroad.
![People gather to protest Tunisia’s President Kais Saied during a demonstration marking five years since his suspension of parliament and assumption of emergency powers, in Tunis on July 25, 2026 [AFP]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/afp_6a657d9303e8-1785036179.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Mohamed Abbou, a former minister of state and former secretary-general of the Democratic Current party, argued that the crisis is rooted in Saied’s style of governance, adding that the rule of law has been replaced by a climate of intimidation and threats.
“Tunisia has lost all credibility,” Abbou said. “Everyone fears the situation in Tunisia because there is no rationality… there is no stability in laws, taxes, or anything else.”
Abbou particularly criticised Saied’s approach to international finance, pointing out that the president rejected a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) purely to maintain a populist image. At the same time, he quietly implemented many of the IMF’s harsh austerity demands, such as halting public sector hiring and reducing imports.
However, supporters of the current government argue that it is unfair to blame Saied’s administration entirely for an economic crisis that predates his rule.
Political analyst Souhaib Mezrigui says the current situation is the result of an absence of any clear economic or social vision over the past 10 years. He placed blame for the current crisis squarely on the political class that has ruled Tunisia since the 2011 revolution.
Tunisia’s economic stagnation has manifested into tangible anger on the streets. Coinciding with the five-year anniversary, thousands of Tunisians rallied in the capital’s Habib Bourguiba Avenue on Saturday, protesting against deteriorating living conditions, rolling water and electricity cuts, and a backsliding in democracy.
Organised by a coalition of opposition parties and the “Nafas” civil initiative, the crowds called for Saied to “leave” and revived the 2011 democratic revolution’s rallying cry: “The people want the fall of the regime”.
A central demand of the protests was the release of political prisoners, who have filled Tunisia’s jails since Saied began his crackdown on dissent. Among the most prominent detainees is Rached Ghannouchi, the 85-year-old former parliament speaker and Ennahdha leader, who was recently sentenced to life in prison.
Ghannouchi’s health has rapidly deteriorated in detention. He recently fainted in Mornaguia prison, where temperatures reportedly reached 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees Fahrenheit). Rights groups and families of detainees, such as opposition politician Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, have repeatedly warned about the dire conditions inside the detention facility and the toll it is taking on elderly inmates.
Imed al-Khamiri, a spokesman for the Ennahdha party, told Al Jazeera that the continued detention of political figures and opposition leaders remains a “disgrace to the Tunisian state”.
Saied’s consolidation of power has also drawn renewed international condemnation. Marking the anniversary, US Representative Joe Wilson issued a scathing statement, accusing Saied of transforming the Arab world’s only constitutional democracy into a “one-man dictatorship”.
Wilson accused the Tunisian regime of phenomenally increasing corruption, destroying opportunities for the youth, and shifting its alliances to become a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran, and Hezbollah.
Noting that Saied’s government has even jailed US citizens, Wilson urged the US State Department to issue a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for Tunisia.
“I will also continue to work to pass the Tunisia Democracy Restoration Act imposing sanctions on Saied and his inner circle,” Wilson stated on the social media platform X, adding: “Democracy in Tunisia will win in the end. Madmen tyrants will not last.”
Thousands marched in Tunisia’s capital to demand the resignation of President Kais Saied five years after he suspended parliament. Protesters revived the 2011 revolution’s slogan ‘the people want the fall of the regime’ as they decried democratic backsliding, economic hardship and political repression.
Published On 26 Jul 202626 Jul 2026
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Missed payroll expectations and revised April and May numbers put the Fed in a tough spot for rate cuts.
June’s employment numbers showed almost no change from the previous month, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 4.2% unemployment rate and an estimated 57,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, roughly half the 115,000 economists expected.
At the same time, the agency also revised April’s and May’s total nonfarm payrolls down by 31,000 and 43,000 jobs, respectively.
According to BLS data, the financial activities sector experienced no job growth in June, after losing 22,000 jobs in May and 43,000 from the end of January. Meanwhile, healthcare and social assistance added the most jobs in June, with 46,600. Among the sectors with the largest job losses were leisure and hospitality (-61,000), information (-9,000), and retail trade (-7,500).
“We know it’s taking people longer to find work, but there are also signs of labor supply constraints in certain industries,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, in the company’s National Employment Report for June. “For now, the overall effect is a slowdown in job creation.”
Using its proprietary methodology developed with Stanford Digital Economy Lab, ADP estimated that U.S. private employers added 98,000 jobs in June. Financial activities saw an increase of 14,000 jobs, placing it only behind education and health services (48,000) and trade, transportation, and utilities (15,000) in job creation.
Small businesses remain the largest source of hiring, with companies with 1-19 employees adding 38,000 new jobs. The companies with more than 500 employees added an additional 25,000 new positions. The companies that fell in between those sizes added 44,000 new jobs.
The revised April and May employment numbers and June’s lower-than-expected numbers reveal a softer labor market in the second quarter than previously thought.
The new figures have created a headwind for the Federal Reserve on possible rate cuts, as inflation remains close to its 2% target, according to the authors of a blogpost on the Curzio Research website.
“But a slowing labor market argues for cuts to support growth before conditions deteriorate further,” they wrote. “That is why the revisions matter. Every policy decision is only as good as the data behind it. If the Fed is reacting to numbers that keep getting weaker after the fact, it risks staying tight for too long.”