CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's statistics agency says unemployment has fallen in the first quarter of 2018 to 10.6 percent compared to 11.3 percent in the three months prior.

CAPMAS says in a Tuesday statement that the decrease amounted to a 1.4 percent drop compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

It estimates Egypt's labor force at 29.2 million people - down 86,000 from the previous quarter due to seasonal work - with the number of unemployed at 3.1 million people.

Egypt's economy is still recovering from a costly 2011 popular uprising and years of political instability. The government secured a $12 billion loan from the IMF in 2016 and launched an austerity program that has included subsidy cuts.

The country has a large informal labor sector not reflected in unemployment statistics.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.