Temporary and contracting workers in Egypt: social insurance rules

Executive summary

• A private-sector worker is insured where the employment relationship is regular: the work by its nature falls within the employer's activity or lasts at least six months. The condition does not apply to contracting, loading and unloading, fishing and land transport workers (article 2 of Law No. 148 of 2019 and article 3 of its executive regulations).
• Irregular workers, among them gang labourers and temporary agricultural workers, enrol themselves and in 2026 pay 9% of the minimum insurable wage (EGP 2,700), with the State Treasury contributing 12% (article 19).
• The employer's contribution for contracting workers is charged on the value of the works: a wage proportion set by Table 8 for the type of works, then 18.25% of that amount in 2026 (articles 199 and 201 of the regulations).
• Anyone who entrusts works to a contractor must notify the National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI) at least seven days before work starts and pay the contractor nothing until proof of payment of contributions is produced, failing which it is jointly liable with the contractor (article 144).
• Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 prohibits employing workers through a labour-supply contractor, with a fine of EGP 2,000 to 20,000 multiplied by the number of workers (articles 45 and 287).

Temporary, occasional and seasonal work in the Labour Law

Labour Law No. 14 of 2025, in force since 1 September 2025, defines the three kinds in its first article:

When a temporary worker is insured

The Social Insurance and Pensions Law covers private-sector workers subject to the Labour Law "provided that the employment relationship between the insured person and the employer is regular" (article 2, first category, item 3). The test is in the regulations issued by Prime Ministerial Decree No. 2437 of 2021: "the employment relationship is regular if the work the employee performs by its nature falls within the employer's activity or lasts at least six months" (article 3). No text links this test to the Labour Law definitions. Read together, the two texts give this result:

• A temporary worker works on what by its nature falls within the employer's activity, the same words in both texts, so the relationship is regular whatever the length of the contract.
• An occasional worker works outside that activity, and by definition the work takes no more than six months, so the relationship is regular only if it reaches six months.
• A seasonal worker depends on the work: if it falls within the employer's activity or lasts at least six months, the relationship is regular.

In the State's administrative apparatus, the public sector and the public business sector, temporary, occasional and seasonal workers are covered expressly by article 2. Neither the Law nor the regulations say from what date a worker who started on occasional work is insured once the work passes six months.

Form 1 is filed when the employee joins, with its deadlines in Egypt's social insurance Forms 1, 2 and 6, and no contribution is due for the month in which service starts unless it is a full month (article 115). The wage limits are in Egypt's insurable wage, and the line between employee and service provider in Working from Egypt for a foreign company: employee or contractor?.

Article 85 excludes from unemployment insurance "workers employed in occasional or temporary work, in particular contracting workers, gang labourers and seasonal workers", among others. Neither article 86 nor article 62 of the regulations says expressly whether the unemployment contribution is payable for those excluded.

Irregular workers

Irregular workers are a separate category under article 2 (fourth category). It includes gang labourers, small own-account workers such as street vendors, and temporary agricultural workers, defined as those "whose employment with the employer is less than six continuous months or whose work does not by its nature fall within the employer's activity". It covers only those not covered by the Law under the first, second or third category of the same article, and the minimum age is eighteen.

The insured person applies personally on Form 1 (article 24 of the regulations), and the occupation must be recorded on a valid national ID card (article 12 of the regulations). The worker pays 9% of the minimum insurable wage each month and the State Treasury contributes 12% (article 19 of the Law and article 57 of the regulations). The minimum is EGP 2,700 for 2026 under NOSI's announcement of 30 November 2025, so the worker's share is EGP 243 a month. Both rates rise by 1% every seven years from 1 January 2020, split equally between the Treasury and the insured person (article 57 of the regulations), so on that text the first rise falls on 1 January 2027: 9.5% and 12.5%.

Contracting workers are not in this category under the Social Insurance Law, although the Labour Law lists them among irregular workers (article 76). They are employees, insured by the employer under the scheme below.

Contributions on contracting works

Article 116 of the Law leaves it to the regulations to set the insurable wage of certain categories and who pays the contributions, and the regulations have a chapter on insuring contracting, building and construction, loading and unloading, quarry and salt-works workers (articles 196 to 224). It covers workers whose occupations are listed in Table 6, among them contracting workers whose work is tied to contracting operations "whatever the length of the work", for old age, disability and death, the end-of-service reward system, work injury and sickness, but not unemployment (articles 196 and 197).

The old-age, disability and death rate rises by 1% every seven years from 1 January 2020, split equally between employer and worker (article 201), so on that text the first rise falls on 1 January 2027: 18.75% and 11.5%.

Table 8 proportions include 12% for turnkey medium-sized buildings without equipment, 17% for building works as a separate item, 65% for ordinary cleaning without supply of equipment and 20% for catering with hot meals. As a worked calculation, a EGP 10,000,000 turnkey contract for an office building without equipment has a base of EGP 1,200,000 (12%), and the employer's share at 18.25% is EGP 219,000. Under Table 7 the worker's insurable wage for 2026 is EGP 2,700, 2,840 or 2,970 according to skill.

• The base comes from the contract, work order, invoice or bill of quantities, and is reviewed against the final account (article 200).
• Subcontractors: contributions on the subcontracted operations are deducted from those on the main contract; if everything is subcontracted, total contributions may not be less than those due on the full contract value (article 199).
• Notification and payment: the contractor notifies NOSI of each contract before work starts, even an exempt one, files a monthly statement of workers on Form 39, and pays the contributions on each instalment or interim certificate by the first day of the month after receiving notice of it (articles 203 to 205).
• Objection to the proportion set by NOSI is filed within thirty days with the fee, and does not suspend payment (article 219).
• Contracts in foreign currency: amounts are converted at the announced selling rate on the payment date, and may be paid in that currency (article 221).
• Exemptions include pure supply or lease, and operations for which the employer requests exemption and the technical committee finds they are carried out by its permanent workforce, provided those workers are insured in the ordinary way (article 214).

Liability of the commissioning party and the main contractor

"Anyone who entrusts the execution of any works to a contractor must notify the Organization of the contractor's name, address and particulars of the operation at least seven days before work starts, and must not pay the contractor any sums due before the contractor produces proof of payment of social insurance contributions for those works; the party commissioning the works is jointly liable with the contractor for the obligations under this Law if it fails to meet those obligations" (article 144).

The text is not limited to the owner: it addresses "anyone who entrusts the execution of any works to a contractor". Article 206 of the regulations adds notice to NOSI of each instalment or interim certificate and of the final account, and suspension of each instalment, interim certificate or final payment until the contractor produces the certificate that NOSI's dues for the contract have been paid. The conditions for that certificate are outside the scope of this guide.

Under the Labour Law:

• a person to whom the employer assigns all or part of the works entrusted to it is jointly liable with it "for all the obligations" imposed by the Law (article 10), and an employer entrusted with work in the same work area must give its workers the same rights as the original employer's workers (article 94);
• "establishments may not employ workers through a labour supplier or labour-supply contractor" (article 45), and occasional work is excluded from the chapter containing this prohibition (article 39);
• the resources of the Emergency Benefits and Social and Health Services Fund for Irregular Workers (article 78) include 1% to 3% of the actual wages of irregular workers in contracting, construction and building; where actual wages cannot be established, they are deemed to be no more than 20% of the contract value in general contracting and 45% in service and labour-only works (article 82). The text does not name who pays, and the rates and due dates are set by a decision of the fund's board chairman that we have not found issued.

What this requires

• Classify every temporary or seasonal worker under the test in article 3 of the regulations when contracting, and insure those whose relationship is regular; failing to insure any employee exposes the person actually responsible for management to a fine of EGP 20,000 to 100,000 (article 168).
• In every contracting agreement: notify NOSI at least seven days before work starts, and make payment of interim certificates and the final payment conditional on proof that contributions have been paid.
• For the contractor: notify NOSI of each operation, file the monthly Form 39 statement, pay by the first day of the month after notice of each instalment, and object to the proportion within thirty days.
• When subcontracting: obtain each subcontractor's NOSI number and proof of payment.
• Register the establishment before hiring, compare the cost of the contracting scheme with the general rates in Egypt's social insurance contributions, and keep the records an inspector will check, as set out in Social insurance inspection in Egypt.

The firm's Social Insurance & Labour Department reviews contracting agreements and temporary employment from the social insurance side and computes the contributions due on them, as part of its social insurance and labour compliance services.

Mahmoud Nassef, Founder Partner
Chartered Accountant, Ministry of Finance, Egypt

Member, Egyptian Society of Accountants & Auditors
Member, Egyptian Tax Society
Member, Egyptian Society for Public Finance and Taxation

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Disclaimer: This bulletin is prepared for general information on the legislation in force at the date of its publication. It does not constitute a professional opinion or tax or legal advice on any particular matter, and it should not be relied upon in place of advice based on an examination of the circumstances of each case. Nassef & Partners International accepts no responsibility for any action taken, or refrained from, in reliance on its contents. The positions stated remain subject to subsequent legislation and decisions.