Tunisia's unemployment rate sees slight decrease to 14.9% in Q2 2026 amid shrinking workforce
Tunisia's unemployment rate decreased slightly to 14.9% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 15% in the previous quarter, according to the National Institute of Statistics. This reduction, however, occurred alongside a contraction in both the active population and the number of employed individuals. The total number of unemployed people fell by 19,300 to 622,400. While male unemployment decreased by 0.5 points to 11.8%, female unemployment rose by 0.9 points to 21.6%. The active population declined from nearly 4.27 million to 4.19 million, a decrease of 77,500 people. The number of employed individuals also fell by 58,200 to 3.57 million. Services continue to dominate employment, accounting for 49.9% of occupied persons. Unemployment among youth aged 15 to 24 saw a more significant drop, from 37.5% to 35.4%. Conversely, the unemployment rate for higher education graduates increased from 24.2% to 26.6%, with a notable disparity between male graduates at 14.2% and female graduates at 35.6%. Urban unemployment rose from 14.4% to 14.8%, while rural unemployment decreased from 16.5% to 15%.