Why Tunisia is Suffering from Brain Drain
Push factors, pull factors, and the ever alluring lure of leaving. This article discusses brain drain and the factors that lead up to it.
Image credit: Lev Levin
In recent years, pictures of Tunisians piling onto rafts and setting sail for Europe have filled the media. These pictures represent the lack of economic opportunity that Tunisians see in their country. There is another way that Tunisians have been fleeing their country, though, and while it has not generated such appalling images in the media, it is just as damaging to Tunisia’s economy.
Tunisians with college degrees have left the country in droves for opportunity across the Mediterranean in Europe. So many educated Tunisians have left recently that it is being referred to as a brain-drain. This article examines the principles of brain-drain, why it is occurring in Tunisia, and if there is anything that can be done to stop it.
What is Brain-Drain?
Brain-drain is a phenomenon where a substantial number of educated professionals emigrate from a country. While every country has some number of educated people moving away, brain-drain occurs when the number of people leaving is so substantial that it hurts the home country’s economy.
To see how brain-drain hurts a country’s economy, one can look at the principles of productivity. Productivity, in economic theory, refers to the number of goods and services a country’s worker can produce per hour. On a large scale, this affects a country’s standard of living, because the more productive a country is, the easier it is for people to receive the goods and services they need and desire. Not every worker in the world is equally productive, though, and factors like education make workers more productive. Thus, when brain-drain occurs and large numbers of educated people leave, a country’s economy becomes less productive and the standard of living can decrease over time.
The causes of brain-drain can be divided into two categories: push factors and pull factors. Push factors are reasons in the home country that make someone want to leave. Pull factors are reasons in destination countries that make people want to leave the home country. In this case, Tunisia is the home country and countries in Europe, such as France, are the destination countries.
Push Factors
“It is not just difficult for Tunisians with college degrees to find jobs in the country; it is actually harder for them than their uneducated counterparts.”
The push factors making Tunisians leave the country relate to employment opportunity and working conditions as well as lack of faith in the government.
It is not just difficult for Tunisians with college degrees to find jobs in the country; it is actually harder for them than their uneducated counterparts. According to the World Bank, “Tunisia is one of the few countries in the world where a higher level of education decreases employability.” There are a couple reasons for this. First, the Tunisian economy is not generating enough jobs that require college degrees. In the public sector, this is because of government hiring freezes, and in the private sector, foreign companies are discouraged from doing business in Tunisia because of its low Doing Business score (78th out of 190 countries). The majority of the jobs that the economy is generating are low-wage jobs that pay wages lower than graduates expect for their labor. Second, Tunisian employers feel that people graduate from universities without tangible skills for the workforce. According to the Brookings Institution, access to education “has been implemented at the expense of the training quality”. According to the World Bank, with large numbers of people pursuing degrees, many students do not receive adequate counseling to help them make career impacting decisions. This is especially the case among graduates who studied the humanities. Many employers feel no incentive to hire someone with a degree, especially if they demand a higher wage than someone without a degree. The job market for graduating Tunisians is unfriendly in the makeup of new jobs and in the attitudes of many employers.
For those graduates who can find jobs, poor working conditions often push them towards employment abroad. This is especially the case in the healthcare field, where, unlike other sectors, there is very high demand for labor in Tunisia. In an interview with media outlet France 24, the head of the orthopedics department at one Tunisian public hospital showed the poor working conditions, broken equipment, and absurdly long hours that Tunisian doctors deal with. In 2017, nearly half of the new members of the Tunisian Medical Association left Tunisia for places like France and Germany, where they can sit for exams and become eligible to practice. Healthcare professionals have appealed to the Tunisian government to try and stop this situation, out of fear that the hospitals will become increasingly understaffed and be uncompetitive in hiring the best doctors.
Lastly, young Tunisians do not see the socioeconomic situation in Tunisia changing any time soon. After the 2011 Jasmine Revolution brought on democracy and started the Arab Spring, many Tunisians were hopeful about the future and eager for the economic prosperity promised by democracy. To their dismay, economic prosperity has not followed, and unemployment has increased. While the revolution was nearly a decade ago, Tunisians still refer to it as a driving force for their leaving the country. The poor labor market and poor working conditions as well as the general sense of pessimism that’s prevalent in their country are collectively moving educated Tunisians to leave their country.
Pull Factors
“Every year, over 3,000 young IT engineers leave Tunisia for Europe, where wages can be up to 2.5 times higher.”
The main pull factors in Tunisian brain-drain are the greater employment opportunities and better working conditions available abroad, as well as the social factor of emigrating.
A 2017 article by the Arab Weekly describes that “Attracted by higher wages and better career options, 94,000 highly skilled Tunisians have left the country in the last six years, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.” This is especially the case in the healthcare industry. Through the past decade, young doctors have been leaving in droves for mainly France and Germany, where there is high demand for doctors due to an aging population. European hospitals pay better wages, have better equipment, and allow more time for leisure and a life outside of work. Other professionals in information technology have also left for Europe. Every year, over 3,000 young IT engineers leave Tunisia for Europe, where wages can be up to 2.5 times higher.
A final pull factor of Tunisian brain-drain is the social aspect. Almost all emigrants from Tunisia know at least one person who also emigrated, and three quarters of emigrants knew someone living at their intended destination. This does not bode well for Tunisia’s brain-drain, since people leaving the country will only lead to more and more people following in their footsteps.
What can be done?
Stopping Tunisia’s brain-drain will take efforts from both the Tunisian government and private sector. There is little either sector can do to influence the pull factors driving young Tunisians out of the country. Wages and ample job opportunity will always be waiting for Tunisians somewhere abroad. When it comes to push factors, though, there is room for improvement.
The Tunisian government can improve working conditions in the country and encourage job creation. Ideally, the government would increase funding for health professionals and universities, thus improving working conditions and education. On job creation, the government should campaign for large companies to set up a headquarters in Tunisia, and they can relax regulations on private businesses, making it cheaper for those businesses to operate and freeing up money to hire educated employees.
Young entrepreneurs are also trying to stop the Tunisian brain-drain. In interviews with The Guardian in 2019, several United Nations employees expressed that innovative startups, not the government, will primarily have to lift Tunisians out of poverty and create job growth in the future. One notable startup is called Think-it, which trains Tunisians in coding and pairs them with remote jobs at partner organizations abroad, so that the talent and wages stay in Tunisia. Looking to the future, the increase in remote work due to COVID-19 may give young Tunisians a way to earn Europe-level wages and stay in their home country.
Citations and Sources for Further Reading
BLAISE, Lilia, et al. “Focus - Tunisia Looks for Ways to Stem 'Brain Drain'.” France 24, France 24, 18 Jan. 2019, www.france24.com/en/20190118-focus-tunisia-brain-drain-graduates-doctors-engineers-work-move-abroad.
Boughzala, Mongi. “Unemployment in Tunisia: Why It's so High among Women and Youth.” StackPath, 21 May 2019, www.theforum.erf.org.eg/2019/05/07/unemployment-tunisia-high-among-women-youth/
Boughzala, Mongi. “Youth Employment and Economic Transition in Tunisia.” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2016, www.brookings.edu/research/youth-employment-and-economic-transition-in-tunisia/.
“Brain Drain Special: The Push and Pull Factors. Written by David Kazamias.” Reload Greece, 19 Dec. 2016, www.reloadgreece.com/brain-drain-special-the-push-and-pull-factors-written-by-david-kazamias/.
Cheikh, Saoussen Ben. “COVID-19 Has Accelerated Digitalization but Will Tunisia Log on? · Global Voices.” Global Voices, 30 July 2020, www.globalvoices.org/2020/07/30/covid-19-has-accelerated-digitalization-but-will-tunisia-log-on/.
Drissi, Malika. “Tunisia: Breaking the Barriers to Youth Inclusion.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/country/tunisia/publication/tunisia-breaking-the-barriers-to-youth-inclusion.
“Ease of Doing Business in Tunisia.” World Bank, www.doingbusiness.org/en/data/exploreeconomies/tunisia.
“Flight and Migration from the Maghreb: Under Pressure, Tunisia Accepts ‘Unusual Deportations.’” Qantara.de, https://en.qantara.de/content/flight-and-migration-from-the-maghreb-under-pressure-tunisia-accepts-unusual-deportations
“Jasmine Revolution.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/event/Jasmine-Revolution.
Lakhal, Malek, and Adriana Vidano Images. “Tunisia: Illegal Migration and Brain-Drain, Two Sides of the Same Coin.” Nawaat, https://nawaat.org/2019/05/07/tunisia-illegal-migration-and-brain-drain-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/.
Larsson, Naomi. “How Tunisia's Young Entrepreneurs Are Tackling the Country's Brain Drain.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 July 2019, www.theguardian.com/business-call-to-action-partnerzone/2019/jul/22/how-tunisias-young-entrepreneurs-are-tackling-the-countrys-brain-drain.
Markey, Patrick, and Tarek Amara. “Revolution a Fading Memory, Economic Frustrations Grow in Tunisia.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 30 Oct. 2016, https://br.reuters.com/article/us-tunisia-politics-insight-idUSKBN12U0FA.
“Overview.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/country/tunisia/overview.
“Production and Growth.” Principles of Macroeconomics Study Guide,https://college.cengage.com/economics/0170186016_tennant/student/review/review/tennant_4e_review_ch09.html.
“Tunisia, Country of Emigration and Return: Migration Dynamics since 2011 (December 2018) - Tunisia.” ReliefWeb, 31 Dec. 2018, https://reliefweb.int/report/tunisia/tunisia-country-emigration-and-return-migration-dynamics-2011-december-2018.
Young, Julie. “The Economic Impact of Brain Drain.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 30 Oct. 2020, www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brain_drain.asp.
Zayat, Iman. “Exodus of Highly Skilled Labour Could Cripple Tunisia's Development Prospects: Iman Zayat.” AW, 19 Nov. 2017, www.thearabweekly.com/exodus-highly-skilled-labour-could-cripple-tunisias-development-prospects.
