Hayfaa, a 25-year-old licensed technician, spent a long time looking for a job, to no avail. She was skimming a daily when she found an advertisement from an employment office located in one of Tunis’ suburbs. She soon made her way to that office, and hence the adventure began.

Hayfaa said she had an interview at that office and was promised a job in an Arabian Gulf country. The employment office asked her to pay registration fees and visa charges amounting to 2,000 Tunisian dinars (about US$1,400).

Imposters lurking

Hayfaa, a 25-year-old licensed technician, spent a long time looking for a job, to no avail. She was skimming a daily when she found an advertisement from an employment office located in one of Tunis’ suburbs. She soon made her way to that office, and hence the adventure began.

Hayfaa said she had an interview at that office and was promised a job in an Arabian Gulf country. The employment office asked her to pay registration fees and visa charges amounting to 2,000 Tunisian dinars (about US$1,400).

Imposters lurking

A short time after Hayfaa paid the agreed amount, she learned from previous applicants that the salary she would receive from the promised job would not be enough to live on, and that her passport would be taken upon her arrival to the destined country.

When Hayfaa decided to terminate the agreement, the employment office threatened to take legal action against her and obliged her to pay 6,000 Dinars (US $3,790) as a penalty. Today, she is caught between the threats of the employment office and reassurances made by her lawyer.

Hayfaa’s is not the only case, but she is perhaps the luckiest of all other victims because she did not leave the country.

Marwan Mahrazi, 32 years old, arrived in the country where he was meant to work, when his employer took away his passport and Marwan felt that he was enslaved by it. After six months of negotiations between the Tunisian Embassy and his employer, Marwan was allowed to return to his homeland, burdened with worries and traumatized by the awful experiences he suffered in such a short period of time. Today, Marwan feels incapable of searching for another job. “Life has become all the more difficult, and I no longer have any hope of finding a job that could safeguard my dignity.”

Mariam, a 35 years old, has a Master’s Degree in Arabic and hoped to work in a Gulf country. She stayed away from employment agencies and sought the assistance of the more trusted and legally recognized National Agency for Technical Cooperation – a government institution.

Mariam said she was more at ease, considering what was happening to several of her colleagues and friends who became victims of fraudulent and illegal employment agencies that kept publishing ads in daily newspapers and magazines.

Ahmad Masoudi, director of the Ministry of Professional Formation and Employment Immigration Office said: “The ministry has issued licenses for eight private offices only, while the rest operates illegally.”

“We have received some complaints, and the ministry has filed four legal actions with first instance courts against the violating agencies,” he added.

Silent government

Nevertheless, the government has been criticized for failing to address such fraudulent practices that have deceived thousands of unemployed persons, except for limited cases when victims file complaints. This has prompted some to hold the government responsible for failing to resolve the problem of unemployment and fraudulent employment offices.

The present unemployment rate in Tunisia is 16.7%, according to the figures released by National Institute of Statistics on population and employment for the third quarter of 2012. The number of the unemployed people is estimated at 653,8oo out of an active population totaling 3,909.600.

Exploiting this high rate, unlicensed employment offices have mushroomed, and their fraudulent actions, aimed at getting jobseekers’ money, have steadily increased.

Masoudi said the ministry supported jobseekers and provided them with needed protection in Tunisia and abroad. It may even intervene under Chapter 191 of the Criminal Code, which has fraud sentences of five years in prison, in addition to fines.

He explained that the ministry published a circular in October 2012, warning job seekers against such bogus and illegal offices, and called on media outlets to avoid advertising them, unless they present a permit issued by the ministry.

Even though they are well-known as fraudulent, these employment agencies still attract many young men and women who dream of a better future and a way out of their bitter conditions, only to be bogged down by worse conditions. Their search for a job to fulfill their dreams continues unabated and they face one failure after another, like Sisyphus who was condemned eternally to repeat the cycle of rolling a heavy rock up a hill only to have it roll down again as it neared the top.