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

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.