The Arab Spring started here in Tunisia
when thousands of the young and unemployed filled the streets
in outrage over the death of a young street vendor.
Just over a year later, another young man is on the streets of Tunis
selling popcorn from his cart just outside the parliament building.
The previous government wouldn´t let us work
and regularly stopped us from doing business,
but it´s been much better since that government was dissolved.
This young man never finished school and before the revolution he,
like others without a degree, turned to the informal economy to survive.
Today, his business is thriving;
he makes about 10 dollars a day.
But around him, thousands of the young and unemployed feel change has not come
quickly enough.
It´s young people who started the revolution.
It’s young people who fought.
It´s young people who died!
People talk about unemployment,
as if it were a problem only in the interior of the country,
as if no one here in Tunis was dying of hunger,
as if no one here wanted things to improve.
Me, what I want is for the world to listen to what I´m saying,
that the revolution change something!
The revolution may have toppled the regime,
but it hasn’t freed Tunisia from unemployment especially if you’re young.
One out of three young people are unemployed here; at almost 30%,
it’s a shockingly high rate for a country with such a well-educated workforce,
according to the International Labour Organization.
Ali comes from a mining area near the center of the country.
We hold high qualifications and we are well trained but we lack employment openings.
Enterprises and financial resources do exist but not jobs.
Where does our wealth go?
Tunisia adds 20,000 new entrants each year to a job market that cannot absorb them.
It’s easier to find work if you don’t have a university degree.
The majority of jobs are created in low-skilled sectors like agriculture or trade
but wages are low and working conditions can be dangerous.
As for the highly educated and highly skilled,
they have equally high expectations when they graduate from university.
The big challenge is to find work after getting a degree.
That’s the big challenge.
Our students take the courses but always in the back of their minds there’s the niggling
question:
what opportunities will there be afterwards?
Tunisia’s public and private sectors generate 30 to 35,000 jobs per year for those with
university degrees.
It means tough competition for the 80,000 graduates of the country’s schools.
Some seem unconvinced that the revolution has made their job prospects any better.
My sister finished her studies and that’s all well and good
but she’s ended up working in a call centre.
Graduates in IT, business, even medical students end up taking work well below their expectations.
The perfect match between jobs and skills can be a difficult one to find.
Those who can afford it go for advanced degrees, essentially hiding out in school,
discouraged by a dismal job market.
Others simply give up.
I’m finishing my Master's degree so I have a better chance instead of staying home,
waiting and waiting for the results of job competitions,
but the competitions now are full of 30 and 40 year-olds...
us… 25-year-olds don't stand a chance.
For many unemployed, the first office they are likely to see is that of the employment
agency.
Immediately after the revolution,
the government took steps to help unemployed youth
by working closely with these centers.
[Ali Hamdi] Thanks to the AMAL programme,
people receive an allowance to actively search for work.
The idea is to improve employment opportunities
for young people just graduating from university.
This is done through moving to a new type of job
or adapting and through personalized coaching activities to better meet company needs.
The small stipend provided by the Ministry of Labour gives young people time
to look for work through the employment centers
and they can even get training to start their own business.
[Ali Hamdi] A university graduate shouldn’t just look
for work
in the public or private sectors,
they’ve also got to innovate and put their intelligence to work,
think up ideas and develop an entrepreneurial spirit to start their own businesses.
Zenab is 25, has an art degree and a friend whose mother is the rare successful businesswoman.
[Zenab] I want to be like her, I want to have my own
business.
So that’s why I start. I choose to start.
I think, I know I’m convinced that it will be difficult.
And I will have many problems but you know I’m curious.
I want to try everything, I want to succeed.
Zenab is enthusiastic for now.
But the numbers show that 80% of women in the region don’t have a job
and aren’t even part of the workforce.
[Zenab] ….there is always this culture of
“you will have a husband and you will stay at home”, you know…?
that’s why I feel that it’s a challenge for me
Even for men, it’s not easy to set up a business in Tunisia.
But it doesn’t stop people like Amir from trying.
He has a master’s degree in engineering
and after some training at the employment center
he’s launched his own security business.
May be other young people are scarred to set up a business as it entails responsabilities.
That’s not easy…
Training and persistence are crucial.
Sourour has a thriving physical therapy center despite what people told her.
[Sourour Abassi] At first, people told me for sure
you’ll go five or six months without any patients, even a year.
But in fact, it’s hasn’t been the case with me.
I had only one week where I was alone and after that, it went well.
Now I’m sure I can pay the bank and I’m not worried…
According to ILO Employment expert Dorothea Schmidt,
the Arab Spring opened a unique opportunity to change the way
labour markets work for young people in Tunisia and throughout the region.
[Dorothea Schmidt] The potential is there for a mind shift and,
People just don’t an option anymore.
Different to other regions in the world
people cannot afford to stay unemployed...
At same time, you see that now everyone committed to youth employment
because they saw what can happen
if young people don't have a perspective...
and the best way to give a young person a perspective
it’s to give the person a decent job.
this pure commitment towards youth employment
and towards tackling the challenge is there
and can have a huge impact…
we see all governments across the region putting more money into employment-related policies,
you see all the countries interested in developing strategies employment for young people
and that's the right way to go.
The Arab Spring ignited a revolution in social justice across a region
desperate for change and within a generation crying out for a chance.
[Sourour Abassi] If you have a goal to achieve,
then go for it!
I did not finish school and remained unemployed for a certain time
then we had this idea and my brother set up this project
so I could have a job.
So I started working in this business, thanks to God.
[Zenab] I will go on, even if I will not succeed in
this project,
even I will not be a great woman in this, in my work.
But I feel that this is a challenge I could go on, I could, I have a point,
I will fix this point I will arrive one day.
I hope!