The Impact of Government Support on the Employment of Small- and Medium- Sized Enterprises (SMEs) During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Tunisian Companies

The study empirically investigated the impact of government support on the employment of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. A questionnaire survey was conducted based on 95 Tunisian SMEs used in this study. Use STATA to analyze the results. The main results show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, government support measures have had a positive impact on employment. This means that companies with higher employment rates need more financial relief and sell them through credit. Besides SMEs' policies, the survey results show that technological innovations improve employment in SMEs. This research provides useful and practical enlightenment for scientists, investors, managers, and regulators. It has made a significant contribution to the literature discussing the policies used and their impact on employment in the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, as far as we know, there are no academic papers studying the impact of government support measures on employment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study fills a key research gap in the literature. The chapter can also serve as an initial basis for providing empirical evidence of the influence of government measures on employment during the recent crisis.