Employment Crisis... What Solutions?
10 January 2011
Read by 1641 persons
Text: "Currently, we need fundamental solutions to the unemployment problem, not temporary fixes. We need to understand the real issues affecting employment in our country and propose long-term solutions." This is how a Tunisian employment market expert expressed his concern about the current situation in Tunisia. According to him, this situation shows the need to rethink the entire education and higher education system. We shouldn't focus on emergency solutions that only temporarily solve the problem of unemployment, especially among university graduates. Every year, there are 88,000 additional job applications, 65% from higher education.
We can praise the mechanisms implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training to encourage private companies to hire young university graduates, but do those concerned really trust them? When a young graduate believes these mechanisms favor exploitation and benefit companies more than young people, there's a problem. A young graduate expects their first experience to be successful and open doors to a better future. The reality is different. Abuses have always existed everywhere. Some companies use these mechanisms to take advantage of the benefits without considering the young graduate's interests.
For example, a young accounting graduate told us that her first experience was in an accounting firm where she was only paid the state's contribution to SIVP (Professional Life Initiation Internship) contracts, 107 dinars at the time. She ended up leaving because she could no longer afford transportation and other expenses, which far exceeded her "salary." We'll be told that these are isolated cases, but they seem to be repeated. This type of practice damages the sector's image, causing young graduates to lose trust in the private sector and believe that the public sector is the only guarantee of stability and a future.
This perspective is confirmed daily, according to our source, and results from a culture that values the public sector, even though the private sector offers many opportunities. And no one can deny today the abuses surrounding the public service entrance exams.
Take the CAPES (Higher Education Teaching Aptitude Competition), held annually and attracting thousands of young graduates. This competition has become the only hope for many graduates in fields considered to have low employability. "Time bombs," says our source, since they have no other option than teaching. There are also specialties whose future is still uncertain, if not hopeless, since the job market is not or no longer in demand. This is where we see the limits of the educational system in adapting to market realities and limiting access to these types of specializations.
But can unemployment benefits be considered a backup solution for young people? "Not at all. This benefit would worsen the situation; in any case, it's only a temporary solution," emphasizes the expert.
We also encourage the establishment of call centers in our country as guarantors of employment for graduates, but is this really the solution? Call centers have the advantage of guaranteeing a decent salary for our graduates, nothing more. The future remains uncertain. "For me, it was always a temporary job. Besides, we were never made to feel that we were there to stay. Apart from the salary, nothing encouraged us to stay," says a young graduate.
We also encourage business creation, but will all our young people become entrepreneurs? Vocational training is a solution that has shown its limits, but all our young people would not be tempted, especially in a country that has long encouraged scientific qualification in higher education.
We could also consider that international cooperation in the field of employment could alleviate pressure on the local job market. Our source indicates that the agreements concluded, for example, with France and Italy are not automatically applied. "These countries impose safeguards that hinder the automatic application of the agreements. As a result, the number of graduates leaving the country to work abroad remains very limited. For France, for example, this number is limited to 1,000 per year, while the agreement provides for 9,000," he specifies. The same is true for Italy. For Canada, which seems more open to welcoming Tunisian nationals, the immigration procedure could take up to two years or more. It takes a lot of stamina.
Far from falling into blissful skepticism, and beyond any substitute solution, it is a matter of preparing the local market to welcome these young people. But the most important thing is to encourage active listening and constructive dialogue with unemployed young people and to promote equality of opportunity, equity, and respect. It is also a matter of rethinking the role of the private sector and its ability to meet demands. To feel secure, any job seeker would demand a minimum of financial and social stability. This means that the state must invest even more in the protection of the rights of young graduates and in encouraging the private sector to improve its foundations and set its employment objectives.
This also requires the state to show greater flexibility with companies, in terms of tax rates, for example, considered the highest in the Arab world. Setting up businesses in inland regions would require adapting infrastructure (roads, logistics, technology, etc.) to encourage companies to voluntarily invest in these regions. The private sector has not only an economic responsibility but also a social responsibility. For a country like ours that wants to join developed countries, the state alone cannot guarantee social stability, which is intrinsically linked to economic stability. And the social unrest currently affecting our country speaks volumes.
The time is urgent, therefore. Moreover, we are informed that the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training is preparing an action plan proposing solutions to the unemployment problem, which we will hear about soon. Let us hope that this plan will propose a new approach to the job market and relevant solutions to get out of the impasse of graduate unemployment. However, it is certain that solutions are not improvised but require a maximum of time to be implemented.
Published January 7, 2011
Posted online January 7, 2011
webmanagercenter.com
We can praise the mechanisms implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training to encourage private companies to hire young university graduates, but do those concerned really trust them? When a young graduate believes these mechanisms favor exploitation and benefit companies more than young people, there's a problem. A young graduate expects their first experience to be successful and open doors to a better future. The reality is different. Abuses have always existed everywhere. Some companies use these mechanisms to take advantage of the benefits without considering the young graduate's interests.
For example, a young accounting graduate told us that her first experience was in an accounting firm where she was only paid the state's contribution to SIVP (Professional Life Initiation Internship) contracts, 107 dinars at the time. She ended up leaving because she could no longer afford transportation and other expenses, which far exceeded her "salary." We'll be told that these are isolated cases, but they seem to be repeated. This type of practice damages the sector's image, causing young graduates to lose trust in the private sector and believe that the public sector is the only guarantee of stability and a future.
This perspective is confirmed daily, according to our source, and results from a culture that values the public sector, even though the private sector offers many opportunities. And no one can deny today the abuses surrounding the public service entrance exams.
Take the CAPES (Higher Education Teaching Aptitude Competition), held annually and attracting thousands of young graduates. This competition has become the only hope for many graduates in fields considered to have low employability. "Time bombs," says our source, since they have no other option than teaching. There are also specialties whose future is still uncertain, if not hopeless, since the job market is not or no longer in demand. This is where we see the limits of the educational system in adapting to market realities and limiting access to these types of specializations.
But can unemployment benefits be considered a backup solution for young people? "Not at all. This benefit would worsen the situation; in any case, it's only a temporary solution," emphasizes the expert.
We also encourage the establishment of call centers in our country as guarantors of employment for graduates, but is this really the solution? Call centers have the advantage of guaranteeing a decent salary for our graduates, nothing more. The future remains uncertain. "For me, it was always a temporary job. Besides, we were never made to feel that we were there to stay. Apart from the salary, nothing encouraged us to stay," says a young graduate.
We also encourage business creation, but will all our young people become entrepreneurs? Vocational training is a solution that has shown its limits, but all our young people would not be tempted, especially in a country that has long encouraged scientific qualification in higher education.
We could also consider that international cooperation in the field of employment could alleviate pressure on the local job market. Our source indicates that the agreements concluded, for example, with France and Italy are not automatically applied. "These countries impose safeguards that hinder the automatic application of the agreements. As a result, the number of graduates leaving the country to work abroad remains very limited. For France, for example, this number is limited to 1,000 per year, while the agreement provides for 9,000," he specifies. The same is true for Italy. For Canada, which seems more open to welcoming Tunisian nationals, the immigration procedure could take up to two years or more. It takes a lot of stamina.
Far from falling into blissful skepticism, and beyond any substitute solution, it is a matter of preparing the local market to welcome these young people. But the most important thing is to encourage active listening and constructive dialogue with unemployed young people and to promote equality of opportunity, equity, and respect. It is also a matter of rethinking the role of the private sector and its ability to meet demands. To feel secure, any job seeker would demand a minimum of financial and social stability. This means that the state must invest even more in the protection of the rights of young graduates and in encouraging the private sector to improve its foundations and set its employment objectives.
This also requires the state to show greater flexibility with companies, in terms of tax rates, for example, considered the highest in the Arab world. Setting up businesses in inland regions would require adapting infrastructure (roads, logistics, technology, etc.) to encourage companies to voluntarily invest in these regions. The private sector has not only an economic responsibility but also a social responsibility. For a country like ours that wants to join developed countries, the state alone cannot guarantee social stability, which is intrinsically linked to economic stability. And the social unrest currently affecting our country speaks volumes.
The time is urgent, therefore. Moreover, we are informed that the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training is preparing an action plan proposing solutions to the unemployment problem, which we will hear about soon. Let us hope that this plan will propose a new approach to the job market and relevant solutions to get out of the impasse of graduate unemployment. However, it is certain that solutions are not improvised but require a maximum of time to be implemented.
Published January 7, 2011
Posted online January 7, 2011
webmanagercenter.com
