Policy Briefs

Extending Social Protections to Tunisia’s Informal Workers

No.

PB 85

Publisher

ERF

Date

July, 2022

In a nutshell:

  • Despite Tunisia’s advanced social protection system, a substantial portion of the workforce is excluded from coverage and left vulnerable, unable to claim their constitutional rights to health and social assistance.
  • Over 40% of Tunisia’s workforce is informal, and these informal workers experience significant differences in characteristics and situations, meaning that one-size-fits-all policies will fail in the face of a diverse informal workforce.
  • Though the informal workforce is present all across Tunisia, higher rates are found particularly outside of Tunis, among lower wage workers, workers with lower levels of education, and those who occupy part-time, seasonal, and occasional jobs. Some sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and construction are more prone to informal employment.
  • Efforts to extend social protections to informal workers should seek to eliminate gaps and barriers in the current system, including the linking of coverage to employment, the complexity of requirements necessary for coverage, and the precarity of informal workers employed at formal enterprises.
Extending Social Protections to Tunisia’s Informal Workers

Speakers

Asma Ben Hassen

Founder and President, Tunisia Inclusive Labor Institute...

Extending Social Protections to Tunisia’s Informal Workers

Authors

Jacob Emont

Robertson Fellow at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School...

Extending Social Protections to Tunisia’s Informal Workers

Research Fellows

Najat El Mekkaoui

Professor of Economics, University Paris-Dauphine

Extending Social Protections to Tunisia’s Informal Workers

Authors

Yeganeh Forouheshfar

Economist and Researcher, The Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association

Extending Social Protections to Tunisia’s Informal Workers

Research Associates

Nidhal Ben Cheikh

Independent Consultant & University of Paris