The crusade against unemployment in Tunisia is yielding leopard skin results. While the general unemployment rate is still a cause for concern, not only because it is not stabilising but also because it is worsening, the same cannot be said for university graduates, whose ranks are swelling rapidly, as shown by the National Institute of Statistics’ employment and unemployment indicators for the fourth quarter of 2023.
During the period under review, the labour force grew to 4,083.8 thousand people, compared with 4,032.2 thousand in the third quarter of this year, an increase of 51.6 thousand people. This population is made up of 2,835.5 thousand men and 1,248.2 thousand women, representing 69.4% and 30.6% respectively of the total labour force.
This increase in the working population in the fourth quarter of 2023 corresponds to an rise of 0.6 percentage points in the activity rate, which reached 45.8% of the working age population (aged 15+), compared to 45.2% in the previous quarter.
The number of persons employed went up by 22.2 thousand to 3,416.2 thousand in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with 3,394.1 thousand in the third quarter of the same year.
This population is unevenly distributed between the sexes: 2,445.5 thousand men against 970.8 thousand women, i.e. 71.6% and 28.4% respectively of the working population.
An unemployment rate of 16.4%
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of unemployed was estimated at 667.5 thousand, compared to 638.1 thousand in the third quarter of the same year. With this increase in the number of unemployed, the unemployment rate rose to 16.4% (compared to 15.8% in the third quarter of the year and 15.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022).
The unemployment rate for men rose from 13.4% in the third quarter to 13.8%, while for women it reached 22.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with 21.7% in the third quarter of the same year.
Increase among 15-24 year olds
The unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24 increased in the fourth quarter of 2023, reaching 40.9% (compared with 39.1% in the third quarter of the year and 38.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022). This rate was 42.1% for men and 38.2% for women in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In this table, the overall positive development is that the unemployment rate for tertiary education graduates falls to 23.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023 (compared to 24.6% in the third quarter of the year and 24.0% in the fourth quarter of 2022). This rate is 12.3% for men and 33.0% for women.
