Egypt's unemployment rate recorded 10 percent in the third quarter of 2018, 1.9 percent down from 2017, the statistics agency said Thursday.

The rate inched up 0.1 percent in comparison with the second quarter, Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics said in a report.

The size of the workforce reached 29.22 million people, while the number of the jobless stood at 2.92 million, of whom 1.6 million were men, said the report.

Egypt has been facing an economic recession over the past few years because of political turmoil and security challenges, which led to declining tourism and foreign investments with growing budget deficit, inflation rate and foreign and domestic debts.

Egypt started in late 2016 a three-year reform program, including subsidy cuts, tax hikes and full floatation of the local currency to deal with economic issues.

The economic reform program is encouraged by a 12-billion-U.S.-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund. Enditem