Child labor and schooling in Tunisia

Abstract EN

This paper provides evidence on the extent of child labor in Tunisia, its determinants and its impact on schooling.

It shows that 5.87% of the target population are involved in work.

A rate which may increase in the future if policy-makers and stakeholders do not take adequate measure to protect children’s rights to a decent life and to a better education.

In this paper, and using TLMPS data (2014), we show the “atypical” picture of Tunisia regarding this phenomenon.

First, child labor is mostly an urban phenomenon: the impact of poverty on child labor is more pronounced in urban areas than in rural ones.

Second, most children are involved in the service sector with 51.6% in services against only 32.2% in agriculture.

And third, poverty is not the main reason to explain child labor family characteristics and the kind of father's job are still significant.

Moreover, we provide evidence that working-children are more likely to repeat school-grade and to lag behind grade levels.

Likewise, working-children are more at risk to dropout, with girls more affected by dropout than boys