OECD Recommendations to Curb Unemployment in Tunisia
17 March 2015
Read by 1854 persons
50% of young people hold informal jobs with little or no protection or job security, while many others work with temporary contracts, according to the latest report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The report, titled "Investing in Tunisia's Youth: Strengthening Youth Employability during the Transition to a Green Economy," states that "the situation of youth employment in Tunisia is a real social tragedy that must be addressed urgently."
One in three unemployed young people has been unemployed for over a year
Indeed, young Tunisians face both high inactivity rates (64.9%) and high unemployment rates (37.6%). Young women (41.8%), young graduates (62.3%), and young people from poorer regions in the center-west and south are particularly at risk of unemployment.
Long-term unemployment is also high, affecting more than one in three unemployed young people.
The OECD estimates that professional integration is a serious problem in Tunisia, with many young people (especially women and young people from less-favored regions) never entering the workforce. In addition to often holding informal and/or temporary jobs, young people are poorly paid and work long hours.
One of the government's top priorities, according to the OECD, is to put Tunisia on the path to economic recovery, based on a new, more sustainable and inclusive growth model that will generate opportunities for productive employment and tackle regional disparities and other inequalities.
Eliminating structural barriers to employment
The OECD recommends measures to eliminate structural barriers in the Tunisian labor market that undermine businesses' willingness and ability to hire young people.
The organization also calls for strengthening social protection systems to protect young people from poverty and enable them to seek new productive jobs. These can be further strengthened by efficient public employment services.
Although Tunisia has a comprehensive social security system, a large proportion of young people do not contribute to it due to high unemployment and the large number of informal jobs and therefore cannot benefit from this protection.
Creating jobs in the green economy
For the OECD, an effective vocational education and training system can also play a crucial role in facilitating the transition to working life. In the context of the transition to a green economy, such a system, if it functions well, can help young people acquire the necessary qualifications to seize opportunities in rapidly growing employment sectors such as clean technologies, energy, tourism, agriculture, and waste and recycling.
Similarly, real entrepreneurship support structures can help young people make the most of the new opportunities that green growth is sure to offer. In this report, the OECD recommends making the hiring of young people more attractive, using wage subsidies more sparingly to encourage hiring and better targeting these subsidies for the disadvantaged, the unskilled and the long-term unemployed, and setting wages for young workers that more closely reflect their productivity.
Creating jobs in the public sector does not guarantee social peace
It is also a matter of reducing wage and benefit gaps between the public and private sectors and resisting the temptation to use job creation in the public sector to ensure social peace and to reduce differences in job protection between permanent and temporary contracts.
Setting up an unemployment benefit system
The OECD also proposes setting up an unemployment benefit system, expanding and better targeting unconditional cash transfer programs (National Aid Program for Needy Families) to provide a basic safety net as a last resort, relaunching public works programs, and developing a multi-faceted strategy to address informality.
It is also necessary to strengthen the capacity of public employment services by working more closely with the non-governmental sector and private employment agencies, as well as improving social policies to help young families better reconcile family and professional responsibilities.
The development of the efficiency of vocational education and training is also recommended to facilitate the school-to-work transition. The OECD suggests, in this regard, facilitating transfers between general and vocational streams, by improving the quality of options at the secondary level.
Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the links between vocational education and training systems and social partners so that the various services provided better meet the needs of young job seekers.
WMC/TAP
Webmanagercenter.com
Published March 11, 2015.
Posted online March 17, 2015.
The report, titled "Investing in Tunisia's Youth: Strengthening Youth Employability during the Transition to a Green Economy," states that "the situation of youth employment in Tunisia is a real social tragedy that must be addressed urgently."
One in three unemployed young people has been unemployed for over a year
Indeed, young Tunisians face both high inactivity rates (64.9%) and high unemployment rates (37.6%). Young women (41.8%), young graduates (62.3%), and young people from poorer regions in the center-west and south are particularly at risk of unemployment.
Long-term unemployment is also high, affecting more than one in three unemployed young people.
The OECD estimates that professional integration is a serious problem in Tunisia, with many young people (especially women and young people from less-favored regions) never entering the workforce. In addition to often holding informal and/or temporary jobs, young people are poorly paid and work long hours.
One of the government's top priorities, according to the OECD, is to put Tunisia on the path to economic recovery, based on a new, more sustainable and inclusive growth model that will generate opportunities for productive employment and tackle regional disparities and other inequalities.
Eliminating structural barriers to employment
The OECD recommends measures to eliminate structural barriers in the Tunisian labor market that undermine businesses' willingness and ability to hire young people.
The organization also calls for strengthening social protection systems to protect young people from poverty and enable them to seek new productive jobs. These can be further strengthened by efficient public employment services.
Although Tunisia has a comprehensive social security system, a large proportion of young people do not contribute to it due to high unemployment and the large number of informal jobs and therefore cannot benefit from this protection.
Creating jobs in the green economy
For the OECD, an effective vocational education and training system can also play a crucial role in facilitating the transition to working life. In the context of the transition to a green economy, such a system, if it functions well, can help young people acquire the necessary qualifications to seize opportunities in rapidly growing employment sectors such as clean technologies, energy, tourism, agriculture, and waste and recycling.
Similarly, real entrepreneurship support structures can help young people make the most of the new opportunities that green growth is sure to offer. In this report, the OECD recommends making the hiring of young people more attractive, using wage subsidies more sparingly to encourage hiring and better targeting these subsidies for the disadvantaged, the unskilled and the long-term unemployed, and setting wages for young workers that more closely reflect their productivity.
Creating jobs in the public sector does not guarantee social peace
It is also a matter of reducing wage and benefit gaps between the public and private sectors and resisting the temptation to use job creation in the public sector to ensure social peace and to reduce differences in job protection between permanent and temporary contracts.
Setting up an unemployment benefit system
The OECD also proposes setting up an unemployment benefit system, expanding and better targeting unconditional cash transfer programs (National Aid Program for Needy Families) to provide a basic safety net as a last resort, relaunching public works programs, and developing a multi-faceted strategy to address informality.
It is also necessary to strengthen the capacity of public employment services by working more closely with the non-governmental sector and private employment agencies, as well as improving social policies to help young families better reconcile family and professional responsibilities.
The development of the efficiency of vocational education and training is also recommended to facilitate the school-to-work transition. The OECD suggests, in this regard, facilitating transfers between general and vocational streams, by improving the quality of options at the secondary level.
Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the links between vocational education and training systems and social partners so that the various services provided better meet the needs of young job seekers.
WMC/TAP
Webmanagercenter.com
Published March 11, 2015.
Posted online March 17, 2015.
