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How Bad Is Unemployment in Tunisia? Assessing Labor Market Efficiency in a Developing Country

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Author Info
Rama, Martin
Abstract

Tunisia's unemployment rate has been among the highest in the world for almost two decades. This article claims that such a high rate reflects measurement problems rather than labor market inefficiency. After discussing the reasons why unemployment rates may not be comparable across countries and reviewing the tools that are available to analyze unemployment in a specific country, the article provides four pieces of evidence to substantiate its claim. Two of them relate to the criteria used in Tunisia to measure unemployment and the way these criteria have changed over time. Two use records on the number of active job seekers and vacancies as reported to the official employment agency. Together, this body of evidence suggests that unemployment has declined steadily over time and remains an issue for first-time job seekers only. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.

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Article provided by Oxford University Press in its journal World Bank Research Observer.

Volume (Year): 13 (1998)
Issue (Month): 1 (February)
Pages: 59-77
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:oup:wbrobs:v:13:y:1998:i:1:p:59-77

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  1. Blanchard, Olivier & Jimeno, Juan F, 1995. "Structural Unemployment: Spain versus Portugal," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 212-18, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Pissarides, Christopher A, 1985. "Short-run Equilibrium Dynamics of Unemployment Vacancies, and Real Wages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 676-90, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Oliver Jean Blanchard & Peter Diamond, 1989. "The Beveridge Curve," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(1989-1), pages 1-76. [Downloadable!]
  4. Edin, P-A. & Holmlund, B., 1990. "Unemployment, Vacancies And Labour Market Programmes: Swedish Evidence," Papers 1990j, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
  5. Berman, Eli, 1997. "Help Wanted, Job Needed: Estimates of a Matching Function from Employment Service Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages S251-92, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Jeffrey R. Franks, 1994. "Explaining Unemployment in Spain: Structural Change, Cyclical Fluctuations, and Labor Market Rigidities," IMF Working Papers 94/102, International Monetary Fund.
  7. Coles, Melvyn G & Smith, Eric, 1996. "Cross-Section Estimation of the Matching Function: Evidence from England and Wales," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(252), pages 589-97, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Burda, Michael C, 1993. "Modelling Exits from Unemployment in Eastern Germany: A Matching Function Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 800, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Rama, Martin, 1999. "The Sri Lankan unemployment problem revisited," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2227, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  2. Pieter Serneels, 2004. "Explaining Non-Negative Duration Dependence Among the Unemployed," Development and Comp Systems 0409013, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  3. Christophe Muller & Christophe Nordman, 2005. "Which Human Capital Matters for Rich and Poor’s Wages? Evidence from Matched Worker-Firm Data from Tunisia," Labor and Demography 0501009, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Pieter Serneels, 2004. "The Nature of Unemployment in Urban Ethiopia," Development and Comp Systems 0409042, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  5. Agenor, Pierre-Richard & Nabli, Mustapha K. & Yousef, Tarik & Jensen, Henning Tarp, 2004. "Labor market reforms, growth, and unemployment in labor-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3328, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Sofiane Ghali & Pierre Mohnen, 2002. "Restructuring And Economic Performance: The Experience Of The Tunisian Economy," CIRANO Working Papers 2002s-26, CIRANO. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Christophe Muller, Christophe J. Nordman, 2008. "Intra-Firm Human Capital Externalities in Tunisia," THEMA Working Papers 2008-38, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise. [Downloadable!]
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