Tunisia - 50% of young people work in informal jobs (report)
3 April 2015
Read by 1880 persons
"50% of young people work in informal jobs with little or no job protection or security, while many others work with temporary contracts", according to a report just published by 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 the country is a real social tragedy that needs to be urgently addressed". One in three unemployed young people has been unemployed for more than a year. In fact, 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 Centre-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 job placement is a serious problem in Tunisia, with many young people (especially women and young people from less privileged regions) never entering the workforce. In addition to often working in 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 create productive job opportunities and directly address regional disparities and other inequalities.
Eliminating structural barriers to employment
The OECD recommends measures to eliminate structural barriers in the labor market that undermine businesses' willingness and ability to hire young people. Social protection systems also need to be strengthened to protect young people from poverty and enable them to seek new productive jobs. They 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 well-functioning, can help young people acquire the necessary skills to take advantage of opportunities in rapidly growing employment sectors such as clean technologies, energy, tourism, agriculture, waste and recycling. Similarly, real entrepreneurship support structures can help young people make the most of the new opportunities that green growth will undoubtedly offer.
In this report, the OECD recommends making hiring young people more attractive, using wage subsidies more cautiously to encourage hiring and better targeting these subsidies for the disadvantaged, the low-skilled and the long-term unemployed, and setting wages for young workers that more closely reflect their productivity. It also involves reducing pay and benefit gaps between the public and private sectors, resisting the temptation to use job creation in the public sector to ensure social peace, and reducing differences in job protection between permanent and temporary contracts.
Establishing an unemployment benefit system
The OECD also proposes establishing 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.
Developing the effectiveness 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 second cycle of secondary education. Finally, it is a matter of further strengthening links between vocational education and training systems and social partners so that the various services provided better meet the demand of young job seekers.
TAP
Maghrebemergent.com
Published on March 10, 2015.
Online since April 3, 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 the country is a real social tragedy that needs to be urgently addressed". One in three unemployed young people has been unemployed for more than a year. In fact, 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 Centre-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 job placement is a serious problem in Tunisia, with many young people (especially women and young people from less privileged regions) never entering the workforce. In addition to often working in 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 create productive job opportunities and directly address regional disparities and other inequalities.
Eliminating structural barriers to employment
The OECD recommends measures to eliminate structural barriers in the labor market that undermine businesses' willingness and ability to hire young people. Social protection systems also need to be strengthened to protect young people from poverty and enable them to seek new productive jobs. They 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 well-functioning, can help young people acquire the necessary skills to take advantage of opportunities in rapidly growing employment sectors such as clean technologies, energy, tourism, agriculture, waste and recycling. Similarly, real entrepreneurship support structures can help young people make the most of the new opportunities that green growth will undoubtedly offer.
In this report, the OECD recommends making hiring young people more attractive, using wage subsidies more cautiously to encourage hiring and better targeting these subsidies for the disadvantaged, the low-skilled and the long-term unemployed, and setting wages for young workers that more closely reflect their productivity. It also involves reducing pay and benefit gaps between the public and private sectors, resisting the temptation to use job creation in the public sector to ensure social peace, and reducing differences in job protection between permanent and temporary contracts.
Establishing an unemployment benefit system
The OECD also proposes establishing 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.
Developing the effectiveness 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 second cycle of secondary education. Finally, it is a matter of further strengthening links between vocational education and training systems and social partners so that the various services provided better meet the demand of young job seekers.
TAP
Maghrebemergent.com
Published on March 10, 2015.
Online since April 3, 2015.
