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The impact of job loss on mental health during the COVID-19 crisis in Tunisia: analysis based on counterfactual decomposition approach

Khaled Nasri (University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia)
Mohamed Anis Ben Abdallah (University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia)
Fethi Amri (University of Gabes, Gabes, Tunisia)

Mental Health and Social Inclusion

ISSN: 2042-8308

Article publication date: 23 August 2023

Issue publication date: 2 December 2024

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the impact of job loss on the mental health of individuals in Tunisia during the COVID-19 crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

In this research, the authors use the counterfactual decomposition technique and the potential outcome approach. In the first part, the authors calculated mental health indicators for all individuals included in the sample based on the World Health Organization-5 items. The individuals were then grouped into two subpopulations: the first group included those who had lost their jobs and the second group included individuals whose status in the labor market had remained unchanged. In the second part, the authors used the Blinder and Oaxaca decomposition to explain the mean difference in the mental health scores between the two groups and determine the factors contributing to this difference.

Findings

The empirical results identified symptoms of depressed mood, decreased energy and loss of interest in several individuals. Based on these three symptoms, the authors were able to classify individuals into three types of depression: mild, moderate and severe. In addition, it appeared that job loss had significantly contributed to the worsening mental health of the individuals.

Originality/value

Although the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak among health-care professionals has been the subject of other studies in health literature on Tunisia, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has addressed the impact of job loss on the mental health of Tunisian workers. Thus, this study fills this gap in the literature.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and has benefited from both financial and intellectual support. The views expressed in this work are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to ERF, its Board of Trustees or donors.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Citation

Nasri, K., Ben Abdallah, M.A. and Amri, F. (2024), "The impact of job loss on mental health during the COVID-19 crisis in Tunisia: analysis based on counterfactual decomposition approach", Mental Health and Social Inclusion, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 745-758. https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-07-2023-0079

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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