The Truth About Unemployment in Tunisia
28 December 2010
Read by 1715 persons
Tunisia's unemployment rate has dropped significantly over the last ten years, falling from 15.7% in 2000 to 13.3% in 2009.
However, according to a Carnegie Middle East study, this positive figure masks a more complex reality.
The decrease in pressure on the Tunisian labor market, as in other Maghreb countries, is not due to improved labor market performance. It's caused by other factors, primarily social rather than economic. These factors are:
- **Lower fertility rate**: The fertility rate has halved in about 25 years, significantly slowing population growth from 3% in the 1980s to 1% per year in 2008. As a result, the working-age population, which grew at an annual rate of 3.7% in the 1980s, increased by only 2% on average between 2000 and 2008;
- **Decreased labor force participation rate**: This fell from 51% in 2001 to 46.9% in 2008 (compared to 73% in Southeast Asia). This decrease is due to low female participation: an average of 25% over the last ten years, in a country considered a pioneer in women's emancipation;
- **Growth of informal employment and precarious work**: This also contributed to the observed decrease. However, underemployment and job insecurity, which have increased over the last decade, cannot be quantified due to a lack of studies and statistics on the subject;
- **Last but not least**: The jobs created mainly benefit those with low levels of education, while unemployment affects young people aged 15-29 twice as much (over 30%) and university graduates, whose unemployment rate rose from 10% in 2001 to 21.6% in 2008.
**Conclusion**: Economic growth remains generally poor in terms of job creation, especially quality jobs.
These are the main conclusions regarding Tunisia from a recent Carnegie Middle East study on unemployment in the Maghreb, conducted by Moroccan researcher Lahcen Achy, professor at the National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics (Insea) in Rabat.
Published December 20, 2010
Posted online December 25, 2010
kapitalis.com
However, according to a Carnegie Middle East study, this positive figure masks a more complex reality.
The decrease in pressure on the Tunisian labor market, as in other Maghreb countries, is not due to improved labor market performance. It's caused by other factors, primarily social rather than economic. These factors are:
- **Lower fertility rate**: The fertility rate has halved in about 25 years, significantly slowing population growth from 3% in the 1980s to 1% per year in 2008. As a result, the working-age population, which grew at an annual rate of 3.7% in the 1980s, increased by only 2% on average between 2000 and 2008;
- **Decreased labor force participation rate**: This fell from 51% in 2001 to 46.9% in 2008 (compared to 73% in Southeast Asia). This decrease is due to low female participation: an average of 25% over the last ten years, in a country considered a pioneer in women's emancipation;
- **Growth of informal employment and precarious work**: This also contributed to the observed decrease. However, underemployment and job insecurity, which have increased over the last decade, cannot be quantified due to a lack of studies and statistics on the subject;
- **Last but not least**: The jobs created mainly benefit those with low levels of education, while unemployment affects young people aged 15-29 twice as much (over 30%) and university graduates, whose unemployment rate rose from 10% in 2001 to 21.6% in 2008.
**Conclusion**: Economic growth remains generally poor in terms of job creation, especially quality jobs.
These are the main conclusions regarding Tunisia from a recent Carnegie Middle East study on unemployment in the Maghreb, conducted by Moroccan researcher Lahcen Achy, professor at the National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics (Insea) in Rabat.
Published December 20, 2010
Posted online December 25, 2010
kapitalis.com
