The impact of job loss on mental health during the COVID-19 crisis in Tunisia: analysis based on counterfactual decomposition approach
| Date | 23 August 2023 |
| Pages | 745-758 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-07-2023-0079 |
| Published date | 23 August 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
| Author | Khaled Nasri,Mohamed Anis Ben Abdallah,Fethi Amri |
The impact of job loss on mental health
during the COVID-19 crisis in Tunisia:
analysis based on counterfactual
decomposition approach
Khaled Nasri, Mohamed Anis Ben Abdallah and Fethi Amri
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to investigate the impact of job loss on the mental health of individuals in
Tunisiaduring 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 forall individuals included in the sample basedon the World Health Organization-5 items. The
individuals were then groupedinto 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 authorsused the Blinder and Oaxaca decomposition to explain the
mean difference in the mental health scores between the two groups and determine the factors
contributingto this difference.
Findings –The empiricalresults identified symptoms of depressedmood, decreased energy and loss of
interest in several individuals. Based on these three symptoms, the authors were able to classify
individuals into three typesof depression: mild, moderate and severe. In addition, it appeared that job
loss had significantlycontributed to the worsening mentalhealth 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 researchhas addressed the impact of job loss on the mental health of Tunisian
workers.Thus, this study fills this gap in the literature.
Keywords Counterfactual decomposition, Job loss, Mental health,COVID-19, Tunisia
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
After being detected in the city of Wuhan, in China’s Hubei Province, COVID-19 spread
rapidly around the world, resulting in global human tragedy and enormous economic
damage (Baldwin and Weder di Mauro, 2020;Elgin et al., 2020;Bel et al., 2021). Following
the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations and to slow down the disease’s
rapid spread across and within countries, many governments have responded with strict
measures, including lockdown with border closures, restrictions of travel, self-isolation,
social distancing and school andworkplace closures (Schomaker et al., 2021;Talbot, 2020;
Nasri et al., 2022).
These measures have resulted in a significant rise in unemployment in many countries
(Blustein et al.,2020). In this regard, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated
that working-hour losses in 2020 were approximately four times greater than those during
Khaled Nasri is a
Researcher at the
University of Tunis El
Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
Mohamed Anis Ben
Abdallah is an Assistant
Professor at the University
of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia.
Fethi Amri is an Associate
Professor at the University
of Gabes, Gabes, Tunisia.
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.
DOI 10.1108/MHSI-07-2023-0079 VOL. 28 NO. 5 2024, pp. 745-758, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 jMENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION jPAGE 745
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting