Employment at the heart of Tunisia's economic recovery plan
24 March 2011
Read by 1360 persons
Saïd Aïdi, the Tunisian Minister of Employment, unveils the main points of the economic recovery plan that the Prime Minister of the provisional government, Béji Caïd Essebsi, is to announce in a few days.
The Prime Minister of the Tunisian provisional government, Béji Caïd Essebsi, is to announce in a few days the content of an economic recovery plan. The Minister of Professional Training and Employment reveals the main lines. Coming from the private sector, Saïd Aïdi, 50, was previously the General Manager for the Middle East and Africa of HR Access (multinational company specializing in human resources software), which has 600 employees in Tunis. He became Minister on January 27, during the second post-Ben Ali government and retained his post in the third team.
Since the revolution, many unemployed people go to the Ministry of Professional Training and Employment every day to claim a job. How does that happen?
- After January 14, for three weeks, 1,000 unemployed people a day came to the ministry. This then decreased. Today, there were about a hundred. We receive them all and listen to them. They demand more transparency and more equity, but show a certain impatience in wishing to be recruited immediately.
How many job seekers do you estimate there are?
- There were 500,000 before the revolution, including 150,000 university graduates. In June it will rise to 700,000, including graduates of the year and job losses due to the revolution and the war in Libya. The unemployment rate reached 13.6% at the beginning of the year. But, from one region to another, the disparities are enormous.
How to fight against this unemployment?
- Job creation and regional rebalancing will be the strong points of the recovery plan to be announced in a few days. For the 15,000 public service recruitments in 2011, we will put in place positive discrimination based on age, year of graduation and place of residence.
A resident of Gafsa who graduated in 2002 will then have more chance than a resident of Tunis who has just obtained his master's degree?
- Yes, but recruitment will not be solely social. It will also meet skills criteria. In addition, we will create the status of public service intern for one year, for 10,000 unemployed graduates. Because it is not doing a service to the individual or even to the administration to recruit a person who graduated in 2002 and who has not worked since. They must be reintegrated and prepared for public service jobs. We will also develop the notion of citizen by involving them in the organization of elections. They will be paid 200 dinars (100 euros) per month. And they will be able to join the public service in 2012, by passing aptitude tests. Young people from civil society will be associated with the deliberation committees. Finally, we will set up a green number to call for any claim.
The competition to become a teacher, the Capes, whose operation is very criticized, in particular by the unemployed graduates who have been camping for a month in front of the Ministry of Education, will it be abolished?
- The principle of the Capes is not bad, but it is true that, under the previous regime, it was bought. This is no longer the case. The problem is complex, the National Education is still thinking about the selection criteria.
The project announced by the previous government to pay a minimum income to unemployed graduates in exchange for part-time work of general interest is it maintained?
- No, coming from the private sector, I know that "photocopier internships" are useless. We replaced it at the end of February with the Amal program -"hope" in Arabic-, in the private sector. It will concern 50,000 young people, who will receive 200 dinars (100 euros) per month in exchange for internships or training in promising sectors, such as agri-food, health or new technologies. In partnership with the private sector, we have defined about thirty job-creating projects, such as the digitization of the national library's heritage, in which they will be able to be hired.
How much will the Amal program cost?
- 60 million dinars (30 million euros) in allowances, already provided for in the State budget. Training and project implementation, amounting to 120 million dinars (60 million euros), should be financed by the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency.
Will these measures be sufficient to reduce unemployment?
To preserve jobs, we also propose tax breaks for businesses that suffered damage during the revolution. And to create jobs, we will develop micro-businesses. For years, the initiative of Tunisians has been stifled. They should regain confidence. We will simplify procedures for companies with fewer than 5 people. This could create 15,000 to 20,000 jobs. In the end, we should reach a socially acceptable level of unemployment in two to three years.
Do you think that the country's economic situation in 2011 will be catastrophic?
- It will be hard, but not catastrophic. All these young graduates must be considered an opportunity. We have the obligation to succeed anyway. Because the scope of this people's revolution - carried out without an emblematic figure, which is a world first - goes beyond Tunisia alone.
Published March 23, 2011
Posted online March 24, 2011
challenges.fr
The Prime Minister of the Tunisian provisional government, Béji Caïd Essebsi, is to announce in a few days the content of an economic recovery plan. The Minister of Professional Training and Employment reveals the main lines. Coming from the private sector, Saïd Aïdi, 50, was previously the General Manager for the Middle East and Africa of HR Access (multinational company specializing in human resources software), which has 600 employees in Tunis. He became Minister on January 27, during the second post-Ben Ali government and retained his post in the third team.
Since the revolution, many unemployed people go to the Ministry of Professional Training and Employment every day to claim a job. How does that happen?
- After January 14, for three weeks, 1,000 unemployed people a day came to the ministry. This then decreased. Today, there were about a hundred. We receive them all and listen to them. They demand more transparency and more equity, but show a certain impatience in wishing to be recruited immediately.
How many job seekers do you estimate there are?
- There were 500,000 before the revolution, including 150,000 university graduates. In June it will rise to 700,000, including graduates of the year and job losses due to the revolution and the war in Libya. The unemployment rate reached 13.6% at the beginning of the year. But, from one region to another, the disparities are enormous.
How to fight against this unemployment?
- Job creation and regional rebalancing will be the strong points of the recovery plan to be announced in a few days. For the 15,000 public service recruitments in 2011, we will put in place positive discrimination based on age, year of graduation and place of residence.
A resident of Gafsa who graduated in 2002 will then have more chance than a resident of Tunis who has just obtained his master's degree?
- Yes, but recruitment will not be solely social. It will also meet skills criteria. In addition, we will create the status of public service intern for one year, for 10,000 unemployed graduates. Because it is not doing a service to the individual or even to the administration to recruit a person who graduated in 2002 and who has not worked since. They must be reintegrated and prepared for public service jobs. We will also develop the notion of citizen by involving them in the organization of elections. They will be paid 200 dinars (100 euros) per month. And they will be able to join the public service in 2012, by passing aptitude tests. Young people from civil society will be associated with the deliberation committees. Finally, we will set up a green number to call for any claim.
The competition to become a teacher, the Capes, whose operation is very criticized, in particular by the unemployed graduates who have been camping for a month in front of the Ministry of Education, will it be abolished?
- The principle of the Capes is not bad, but it is true that, under the previous regime, it was bought. This is no longer the case. The problem is complex, the National Education is still thinking about the selection criteria.
The project announced by the previous government to pay a minimum income to unemployed graduates in exchange for part-time work of general interest is it maintained?
- No, coming from the private sector, I know that "photocopier internships" are useless. We replaced it at the end of February with the Amal program -"hope" in Arabic-, in the private sector. It will concern 50,000 young people, who will receive 200 dinars (100 euros) per month in exchange for internships or training in promising sectors, such as agri-food, health or new technologies. In partnership with the private sector, we have defined about thirty job-creating projects, such as the digitization of the national library's heritage, in which they will be able to be hired.
How much will the Amal program cost?
- 60 million dinars (30 million euros) in allowances, already provided for in the State budget. Training and project implementation, amounting to 120 million dinars (60 million euros), should be financed by the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency.
Will these measures be sufficient to reduce unemployment?
To preserve jobs, we also propose tax breaks for businesses that suffered damage during the revolution. And to create jobs, we will develop micro-businesses. For years, the initiative of Tunisians has been stifled. They should regain confidence. We will simplify procedures for companies with fewer than 5 people. This could create 15,000 to 20,000 jobs. In the end, we should reach a socially acceptable level of unemployment in two to three years.
Do you think that the country's economic situation in 2011 will be catastrophic?
- It will be hard, but not catastrophic. All these young graduates must be considered an opportunity. We have the obligation to succeed anyway. Because the scope of this people's revolution - carried out without an emblematic figure, which is a world first - goes beyond Tunisia alone.
Published March 23, 2011
Posted online March 24, 2011
challenges.fr
