Migration Patterns and Labor Market Outcomes

This chapter focuses on the external effects of emigration on non-migrants, and particularly on the interactions with labor market outcomes in Tunisia before and after the revolution. Using the new Tunisia Labor Market Panel Survey (TLMPS), we conduct an in-depth analysis of the structure and dynamics of migration, including the profile of migrants and their origin households, mainly in terms of skills and spatial composition. We investigate transition matrices, employment status, income for current migrants and returnees, and the evolution of remittances. Our analysis confirms the role of emigration as a safety valve for the Tunisian labor market. Moreover, origin households of migrants have a significantly higher wealth index. Our analysis also tends to confirm the effects of remittances on labor supply of non-migrants, which can have a negative impact on Tunisia’s unemployment rate when a crisis in destination countries affects the remittance rate negatively.