When the term of his contract as a university professor ended, Ph.D student Imad Ghanimi looked for another way to earn a living. Having studied and taught in the university for long years, Ghanimi searched for any job to provide for his poor family in light of skyrocketing prices.

He sold toys and clothes on the streets. A few months ago, however, security members confiscated his goods and motorcycle. Ghanimi was not able to recover his belongings and in a moment of despair, he set fire to his body and died.

When the term of his contract as a university professor ended, Ph.D student Imad Ghanimi looked for another way to earn a living. Having studied and taught in the university for long years, Ghanimi searched for any job to provide for his poor family in light of skyrocketing prices.

He sold toys and clothes on the streets. A few months ago, however, security members confiscated his goods and motorcycle. Ghanimi was not able to recover his belongings and in a moment of despair, he set fire to his body and died.

The tragedy is reminiscent of the trigger of social protests against unemployment and poverty, reviving images of vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi whose self immolation sparked the Tunisian revolution in 2011.

Suicide in face of unemployment

Five years after the revolution, Tunisians continue to protest for the same reasons as Bouaziz. And the number of suicide attempts by unemployed university graduates is soaring.

Walid Momani, 35, came close to losing his life after a long period of unemployment after his university graduation without any job prospects, especially since the government had rejected applications from people who staged protests in Kasserine. “I was in a moment of despair,” says Momani. “I felt that my life and degree were useless because I was not able to provide for my family or even afford medicine for my wife who had a miscarriage.”

TFSER figures show that the number of suicide cases last year amounted to 549 up from 203 in 2014, mostly involving young people aged 25-35. Protests by the unemployed have not subsided since the revolution. Almost all governorates witness sit-ins, hunger strikes and suicide attempts, including in front of the parliament.

 “Young Tunisians are committing suicide because there is no dialogue or hope,” says Ramadan bin Omar, member of the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (TFSER). “They feel oppression and injustice due to their deteriorating living conditions.”

Overqualified graduates

Unemployment nationwide hovers at 15.6 percent.  Thirty percent, or 250,000 of the country’s unemployed have university degrees. While many unemployed Tunisians continue protests to win a job in the public sector, which already has a large number of civil servants, others are trying to earn a living with jobs for which they are highly overqualified.

In rural areas, women graduates carry take on jobs such as raising cattle, picking olives or harvesting grains or vegetables in the fields in harsh conditions. A few months ago, Fardous Haji created a small shop to sell items made of porcelain. Haji gets low revenues but she believes that “this is better than remaining marginalized and unemployed under the government’s false promises to employ graduates.”

Haji argues that the successive governments have not been able to employ more people in the public sector on the grounds that the latter faces serious challenges. The solution lies in entrepreneurship, she said.

Obstacles

Officials confirm that the state is providing financial and fiscal privileges to graduates willing to become entrepreneurs, but bureaucracy remains a problem.

Many unemployed youth who seek funds to start enterprises complain of slow credit turnaround times at a time when the country is suffering from a liquidity problem.

“The administrative procedures shackle those who wish to create a small enterprise,” says Abdullah Ltifi who has a Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics, yet he has not been able to find a relevant job since he graduated five years ago. “Many graduates seek ways to create small enterprises, but they face lots of challenges.”

To earn a living after graduation, Ltifi worked in construction, while taking pocket money from his poor family for over two decades.

Ambiguity

Head of the Union of Unemployed Graduates Salem Ayari says there are no real actions to address unemployment in the country. “Most government actions have achieved nothing,” he says. “The 2016 Appropriation Bill announced the employment of 15,000 people, but it, like stalled investment projects, is ambiguous.”

Tunisia suffers from high rates of unemployment and poverty following the revolution in a difficult situation with increased budget deficit and rising debt due to obstructed production and investment.