Le fardeau des travailleurs vulnérables dans les pays en développement : une évaluation des effets du confinement en Tunisie

For many developing countries, particularly in Africa, the damage of the first wave of COVID-19 was mainly economic and social due to the lockdown measures. This paper aims to assess the consequences on workers using the National Survey on Population and Employment conducted by the Tunisian National Institute of Statistics (2017). Three main factors of vulnerability are investigated: the inability to work from home, working in a non-essential industry, and working for the private sector. The most affected are production workers, machine operators, and laborers in non-agricultural activities. The typically unprotected and vulnerable worker is an individual with low education, a young man if self-employed, and a woman with a temporary contract and lower earnings if a wage earner. The coastal regions (except the capital) are the most fragile despite their advantages, as most manufacturing, tourism, and international transport activities are located in these regions. Codes JEL: J22, J61, O30, R12, R32.