According to Smart Tunisia, the Tunisian Tech sector accounts for about 7,5% of the country’s GDP. This gives an indication about the efforts that have been taken by the public and private sector to develop ICT capabilities and resources.

A strong focus on education and research and the integration of education and research in business environments, have certainly contributed to the favorable climate for ICT in Tunisia.

Currently there are about 80,000 Tunisians employed in about 1,800 ICT companies. Source: tap.info.tn, via GIZ Tunisia).

ICT exports

Tunisia’s ICT services export jumped from around USD 32.1 million USD in 2004 to 409.5 million USD in 2013. The last attainable data is from 2017 with an ICT services export of about 300.5 million USD (Source: Worldbank, International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files).

This accounted for about 9.18% of all services exports in 2017 which was even higher than the percentage of ICT services exports of Hungary (8.19% of all services exports in 2017), an established shared services location in the center of Europe. It also tops another emerging location in the region – Morocco, which was 8.61 % of all services exports in 2017. (Source: Worldbank, International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files).

With that Tunisia had achieved an above global average ICT services export rate, which was in 2017 about 7% of all services exports. To provide further perspective: Rwanda, which has a similar population had in the same year (2017) an ICT export rate of all services exports of only 2%. Looking at developed markets, Belgium, also with a similar population had in 2017 an export rate of ICT services (of all services) of 10.71%. (Source: Worldbank).

Labour market

Around 3.5 million Tunisians are in employment, which is average in the region. According to the Danish Trade Union Development Agency’s “Tunisia Labour Market Profile” the country’s labor market suffers from a miss-match in the number of available jobs and a growing number of university graduates.

The country has a modern legislation, representing woman rights, however the participation is with 24%, compared to 69% men’s participation in the labor force low. On the other side Tunisia has a high rate of firms with woman ownership. (Source: World Bank, Tunisia Enterprise Survey, 2013) For the ICT sector this may change as we see a high rate of woman enrolled in ICT related studies of 61% (out of 40,000 students). (Source: Smart Tunisia)

Less relevant for the ICT sector, but important to understand the Tunisian labor market, is the high rate of informal employment, which produces an estimated 30-40% of the GDP of the country. This is caused by a weak job creation, which has pushed large parts of the employable workforce into own-employments and family working relations.

Labor cost

The average monthly salary in Tunisia is 3,910 TDN (Tunisian Dinar), which exchanges to about 1,199 EUR in 2021. (Source: www.salaryexplorer.com)

The gender pay gap for ICT and customer care jobs in Tunisia is about16%, meaning men earn on average 16% more than women. Entry level salaries raise with about 32% within 2-5 years and another  36% within 5-10 years. These numbers vary a lot, depending position and company.

The difference in salary between having a Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree is 29%, while a PhD degree adds another 23%.

About 48% of employees in the ICT and the customer care sectors receive annual bonuses between 3% and 6%. (Source: www.salaryexplorer.com)

IT services

For the Information technology sector in Tunisia the monthly average salaries are between 3,930 TDN or 1,208 EUR (lowest average) and 6,400 TDN or 1,962 EUR (highest average).

Customer Care

The average monthly salary for customer care related jobs is 2,680 TND or about 824 EUR. The salaries range from 1,050 TDN  or 322 EUR (lowest average) to 5,820 TDN or 1,789 EUR (highest average).