Tunisia-Unemployment rate stands at 15.6% in 2nd quarter

According to the INS, in the second quarter of 2023, the number of unemployed is assessed at 638.1 thousand, compared to 655.8 thousand in the first quarter of the year. The unemployment rate reached 15.6% (compared to 16.1% in the first quarter and 15.3% in the second quarter of 2022). By gender, the unemployment rate remains extremely higher for women (21.1%) than for men (13.2%).

In the second quarter of 2023 the active population is on the rise, standing at 4096 thousand individuals against 4078.1 thousand in the first quarter of the same year, an upsurge of 17.9 thousand individuals. This population is split into 2,861.2 thousand men and 1,234.8 thousand women, i.e. respectively 69.9% and 30.1% of the entire active population.

This growth in the active population in the second quarter of 2023 corresponds to an increase of 0.3 percentage points in the activity rate, which attains 46.3% of the population of working age (aged over 15 years) against 46% in the first quarter of the same year.

The number of workers rose by 35.6 thousand to 3457.9 thousand in the second quarter of 2023 against 3422.3 in the first quarter of the same year.​​​​​​​

This population is spread unevenly between the two sexes: 2,483.7 thousand men against 974.2 thousand women, that is to say respectively 71.8% and 28.2% of the employed working population.

With respect to the unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24, in the second quarter of 2023, 38.1% of active people aged 15 to 24 were unemployed (compared to 40.2% in the first quarter of this year and 37.2% in the second quarter of 2022). The unemployment rate is 39.2% among young men and 35.8% among young women.

The unemployment rate for higher education graduates attained 23.7% in the second quarter of 2023 (compared to 23.1% in the first quarter of the year and 22.8% in the second quarter of 2022). This rate is 14.9% for men and 31% for women.