Reforming Employment in 7 Points
27 May 2014
Read by 1787 persons
In a post-revolutionary context, Tunisia faces major challenges regarding one of the key issues raised by young people who took to the streets: employment. It is clear that the current situation requires concrete changes and swift decisions to restart the employment system, which is currently stalled. The situation can be summarized in six points:
There is a significant mismatch between supply and demand in the Tunisian job market. Graduates rarely meet the needs expressed by companies. This implies addressing two main problems: adapting university curricula to the changing job market, and identifying the needs of companies in the market.
The current system of higher education, and the education system in general, does not provide real guidance toward the job market. It is certainly the biggest source of problems in the job market, as synergy between education and employment is essential.
The rate of job creation does not keep up with the number of job seekers, especially university graduates. The number of jobs created is lower than the annual number of graduates, creating a bottleneck in many sectors and highlighting a major problem in attracting local and foreign investors.
There is a "brain drain", which has a particularly negative impact on the Tunisian economy. On the one hand, Tunisians seek to go abroad because the opportunities offered by companies in Tunisia do not seem attractive compared to their skill level. On the other hand, a well-defined strategy must be put in place to encourage skilled Tunisians living and succeeding abroad to return to contribute to their country's development.
Certain types of employment contracts can hinder successful professional integration if there are no rigorous control mechanisms in place. The example of the Internship for Professional Life Integration contract highlights shortcomings which, when used improperly, can harm the professional integration of young graduates and sometimes border on exploitation.
Political Courage for Fundamental Changes
In response to the observations made above, fundamental changes in employment policy must be implemented sustainably. This requires political courage because it challenges a long-standing model that has shown its limitations. The necessary reforms are not solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment but also involve other areas such as education, higher education, and the economy.
Among the avenues worth exploring, we can note:
Transparency of data and deeper analysis of figures: ANETI (National Agency for Employment and Work) has a vast database and a large amount of information on the employment situation in Tunisia. It allows for cross-referencing by sector, diploma, governorate, education level, both from the companies' offers and from the job seekers' side. The transparency of this data (because there is nothing left to hide) would allow all parties to understand the situation and give impetus towards a deeper exploitation of this data, which certainly contains many answers.
Retraining: Many sectors in Tunisia are saturated, with professions that can no longer be absorbed by the market. The idea of retraining is a very interesting alternative.
Indeed, there are many saturated sectors but also many sectors in high demand. The goal would be to move people from saturated sectors to those in demand through retraining programs developed in collaboration with companies' needs. This involves expanding the role of career counselors across the country and providing them with advanced training to master both the job-seeker aspect and the "identification of company needs" aspect, and finally, the retraining principle. The success of such a measure also depends on the implementation of sophisticated software to detect retraining possibilities based on the qualifications of job seekers and the needs of companies.
Development of vocational training: The share allocated to vocational training is still relatively low compared to the job prospects and qualifications it can bring to the Tunisian job market. The lack of practical experience among new job seekers is a major problem highlighted by companies and is often a reason for not hiring or failure after the probationary period.
Emphasis should be placed on work-study programs because they allow learners to apply theory and become familiar with the company environment. This approach has proven successful in many developed countries and has yielded very satisfactory results in terms of professional integration. However, a major challenge will have to be addressed: how to ensure that at the end of the practical phase, the trainee does not decide to leave the training company for another? This aspect will be crucial for the commitment of companies to participate in the practical training of apprentices.
Boosting local and foreign investment: As we have seen, one of the major findings lies in the pace of job creation. Therefore, in addition to matching qualifications to company needs, we must increase the number of jobs offered. This requires increased investment, which in turn requires strong incentives for investors and making Tunisia an attractive economic destination (the strategy must be developed with experts).
Reforms in higher education: The matching of job seekers with company needs requires a profound adaptation of the higher education system to the needs of the job market.
This involves reviewing curricula in various universities and schools. These programs must adapt to today's challenges and anticipate tomorrow's new technologies. This will provide the job market with up-to-date and highly qualified workforce. The success of such a process can only be achieved through close collaboration between public institutions, companies, experts in various fields, and social partners.
Promoting regional education: Each region in Tunisia has its own specificities in terms of development strategy and economic sectors to prioritize. In this context, the intermediary role between job seekers and companies in each region strongly depends on the training strategy implemented according to regional specificities. The constitutionalization of decentralization can be a starting point for such reforms.
In conclusion, I would like to draw attention to a crucial aspect that requires real commitment in education and in companies: "soft skills" encompass all behaviors to be adopted within a company (internal and external communication, team spirit...), outside the technical framework. This aspect is extremely important within the company and is often ignored by the job seeker, even from the job interview.
It would be very interesting to consider integrating a "soft skills" and "company life" module into educational programs, from a young age (middle school, high school). The world of work should not be an unknown for those who are discovering it, as is the case today.
We must prepare young people from a young age to face the world of work.
Youssef Fennira.
Huffpostmaghreb.com
Published May 12, 2014.
Posted online May 27, 2014.
There is a significant mismatch between supply and demand in the Tunisian job market. Graduates rarely meet the needs expressed by companies. This implies addressing two main problems: adapting university curricula to the changing job market, and identifying the needs of companies in the market.
The current system of higher education, and the education system in general, does not provide real guidance toward the job market. It is certainly the biggest source of problems in the job market, as synergy between education and employment is essential.
The rate of job creation does not keep up with the number of job seekers, especially university graduates. The number of jobs created is lower than the annual number of graduates, creating a bottleneck in many sectors and highlighting a major problem in attracting local and foreign investors.
There is a "brain drain", which has a particularly negative impact on the Tunisian economy. On the one hand, Tunisians seek to go abroad because the opportunities offered by companies in Tunisia do not seem attractive compared to their skill level. On the other hand, a well-defined strategy must be put in place to encourage skilled Tunisians living and succeeding abroad to return to contribute to their country's development.
Certain types of employment contracts can hinder successful professional integration if there are no rigorous control mechanisms in place. The example of the Internship for Professional Life Integration contract highlights shortcomings which, when used improperly, can harm the professional integration of young graduates and sometimes border on exploitation.
Political Courage for Fundamental Changes
In response to the observations made above, fundamental changes in employment policy must be implemented sustainably. This requires political courage because it challenges a long-standing model that has shown its limitations. The necessary reforms are not solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment but also involve other areas such as education, higher education, and the economy.
Among the avenues worth exploring, we can note:
Transparency of data and deeper analysis of figures: ANETI (National Agency for Employment and Work) has a vast database and a large amount of information on the employment situation in Tunisia. It allows for cross-referencing by sector, diploma, governorate, education level, both from the companies' offers and from the job seekers' side. The transparency of this data (because there is nothing left to hide) would allow all parties to understand the situation and give impetus towards a deeper exploitation of this data, which certainly contains many answers.
Retraining: Many sectors in Tunisia are saturated, with professions that can no longer be absorbed by the market. The idea of retraining is a very interesting alternative.
Indeed, there are many saturated sectors but also many sectors in high demand. The goal would be to move people from saturated sectors to those in demand through retraining programs developed in collaboration with companies' needs. This involves expanding the role of career counselors across the country and providing them with advanced training to master both the job-seeker aspect and the "identification of company needs" aspect, and finally, the retraining principle. The success of such a measure also depends on the implementation of sophisticated software to detect retraining possibilities based on the qualifications of job seekers and the needs of companies.
Development of vocational training: The share allocated to vocational training is still relatively low compared to the job prospects and qualifications it can bring to the Tunisian job market. The lack of practical experience among new job seekers is a major problem highlighted by companies and is often a reason for not hiring or failure after the probationary period.
Emphasis should be placed on work-study programs because they allow learners to apply theory and become familiar with the company environment. This approach has proven successful in many developed countries and has yielded very satisfactory results in terms of professional integration. However, a major challenge will have to be addressed: how to ensure that at the end of the practical phase, the trainee does not decide to leave the training company for another? This aspect will be crucial for the commitment of companies to participate in the practical training of apprentices.
Boosting local and foreign investment: As we have seen, one of the major findings lies in the pace of job creation. Therefore, in addition to matching qualifications to company needs, we must increase the number of jobs offered. This requires increased investment, which in turn requires strong incentives for investors and making Tunisia an attractive economic destination (the strategy must be developed with experts).
Reforms in higher education: The matching of job seekers with company needs requires a profound adaptation of the higher education system to the needs of the job market.
This involves reviewing curricula in various universities and schools. These programs must adapt to today's challenges and anticipate tomorrow's new technologies. This will provide the job market with up-to-date and highly qualified workforce. The success of such a process can only be achieved through close collaboration between public institutions, companies, experts in various fields, and social partners.
Promoting regional education: Each region in Tunisia has its own specificities in terms of development strategy and economic sectors to prioritize. In this context, the intermediary role between job seekers and companies in each region strongly depends on the training strategy implemented according to regional specificities. The constitutionalization of decentralization can be a starting point for such reforms.
In conclusion, I would like to draw attention to a crucial aspect that requires real commitment in education and in companies: "soft skills" encompass all behaviors to be adopted within a company (internal and external communication, team spirit...), outside the technical framework. This aspect is extremely important within the company and is often ignored by the job seeker, even from the job interview.
It would be very interesting to consider integrating a "soft skills" and "company life" module into educational programs, from a young age (middle school, high school). The world of work should not be an unknown for those who are discovering it, as is the case today.
We must prepare young people from a young age to face the world of work.
Youssef Fennira.
Huffpostmaghreb.com
Published May 12, 2014.
Posted online May 27, 2014.
