For a better integration into the labor market in Tunisia

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In order to address this significant increase in unemployed graduates, the Ministry of Employment and Professional Integration of Youth, in collaboration with the World Bank, conducted a survey at the end of 2005 on young graduates to attempt to identify some mechanisms for their integration in the labor market.

This report presents the results of this work based on:

• The analysis of the situation in regards to employment and unemployment of young graduates at the time of the survey and the suitability of their qualifications for employment
• The career path of young graduates in the period between the date they obtained their diploma and the date of the survey.

Unemployment and suitability of skills

Unemployment affects all kinds of graduates:  Unemployment remains a serious problem among young graduates, notably those who graduate with a postsecondary degree, and particularly effects graduates with two year technical degrees and master degrees which have an unemployment rate that reaches 50%. The results of this study also underline the problems of lower jobs (given their qualifications) and graduates not have appropriate skills for employment.

Graduates with two year professional degrees who are supposed to have better prospects for employment are actually the most vulnerable to unemployment. The graduates from Higher Institutes of Technology ISET have a slight advantage compared to technicians from other institutions of higher learning.

University studies (management, finance, law, all levels of diplomas included) have a higher rate of unemployment, reaching 68% for graduates of masters programs in legal studies.

For the technical fields, the group of specialties linked to agriculture and agro business have an unemployment rate that is much higher (more than 70% for the technicians and more than 31% for engineers).

Where do young Tunisian graduates work?
For 71% of young graduates, a job out of university is the main goal for graduates of the higher education system.

The public sector with 52% of jobs has been the traditional employer of university graduates in the past and still remains the primary prospect.

The role of the private sector remains significant, providing 48% of jobs.

• Small businesses with less than 50 employees hire half of workers, and more than half of these employees work in small businesses with less than 10 employees.
• More than 23% of young employees are working without a contract.
• More than half of the jobs are completed under a term contract.

Career path

An analysis of the career path shows that stability in employment is of concern to one fifth of graduates :

• Quick and solid access to a job concerns only one fifth of the graduates, notably teachers and engineers.
• More than 38% of young people have never been employed since graduation and two thirds of them were unemployed for at least 18 months following their graduation. In fact, two thirds of young graduates have never had a job or an internship during the first 20 months following graduation.
• The majority of young graduates were unemployed upon graduation from the educational system and were unemployed for more than 15 months following graduation. Technicians make up a large portion of this figure.
• Nearly 19% of graduates followed paths where they did not enter the workforce and as a result reduced the rate of unemployment :
  • 15% of young people did not enter the labor market at all and either continued their studies after two to three months of unemployment or considered themselves to be in a period of school vacation.
  • 4% of graduates do not try to enter the labor market following graduation. At the time of leaving school, the majority of these young people remain inactive for nearly one year.

The importance of a diploma on the path of entry into the work force of young graduates. Engineers, technicians, and architects have the strongest chance of having a more stable career. Higher technicians have a better chance than masters graduates- around 3%- to find themselves unemployed.

Two principal recommendations of the study

One of the principal recommendations of the study is to better align graduates’ skills with the needs of the economy. Overall, the results of the survey show a serious imbalance between the actual skills of graduates and the demand for skills in Tunisia. The diploma and the field of specialty remain the principal factors that dictate entry into the workforce.

Identify mechanisms to adjust the flow of students that pursue different diploma specialties and better align the graduates’ skills with the needs of the economy.  In the short term and medium term, the analysis also suggests the need to strengthen the plans for assistance for employment; however, it is important to structure these programs in a manner that will maximize their impact and minimize their costs.