Unemployment in Chad

Chad has no evidenced general unemployment insurance, regular unemployment payment, or standard waiting-period and reporting system for people without work. The labour market is heavily agricultural and informal; about 88% of jobs are informal, so a headline unemployment rate does not fully show underemployment or the loss of informal livelihoods. The latest ILOSTAT household survey identified in the available research dates from 2018. Under Decree 96-189, a working-age jobseeker must register with ONAPE, Chad's national employment service, and obtain a carte de demandeur d’emploi, or jobseeker card. Online registration uses an account and email activation, followed by personal data, diplomas and training, skills, work or internship experience, job aspirations, profile completion and applications for vacancies. Registration is advertised as free. Where no ONAPE office is available, the Prefet or Sous-préfet can record the jobseeker's request and forward it to ONAPE within 72 hours. ONAPE provides counselling, placement, reconversion and mobility support, but registration does not create an entitlement to income replacement. Formal dismissal can create separate claims against the employer. The notice period is 15 days for less than one year of seniority, one month at one year, and two months from three years onward; serious misconduct excludes notice. During notice, the worker receives one paid day per week for job searches, with unused days accumulating. After at least two years of seniority, dismissal compensation is calculated from average gross monthly salary during the previous 12 months, excluding family allowance: 25% per year for the first five years, 30% for the next five years and 35% from the eleventh year. Notice compensation, paid-leave compensation and dismissal compensation can be cumulative when they are due. A dismissed worker can request priority rehire for one year if the request is made within one month and the worker responds within the required deadline. Labour disputes can be taken to the Inspection du Travail or the competent court. Employers must notify ONAPE of vacancies, hires and definitive contract terminations within 48 hours, and employment contracts use the jobseeker card for the required visa process. Direct hiring remains possible when ONAPE cannot meet the demand, but the notification duties remain. Occasional work lasting no more than one month is exempt from these formalities. Re-entry programmes provide alternatives to income benefits. PADE offers a three- to six-month pre-employment placement allowance for unemployed Chadian nationals who have recently graduated and hold an ONAPE card. Auto-Emploi supports available unemployed Chadian nationals aged 18 to 45 with a viable individual or collective business or restart project. The business plan may not exceed CFA 5,000,000; the applicant generally contributes at least 20% and provides a guarantor or real security. The credit is repayable at zero interest over one to three years. Crédit Agricole can support rural producer groups. These programmes finance activation or enterprise creation; they are not unemployment income replacement. CNPS lists family allowances, maternity benefits, work injuries and occupational diseases, pensions, disability and survivors' benefits, but no unemployment branch. The PSSNP and the RSU/USR system target extremely poor or vulnerable households, refugees, host communities and households affected by shocks. Access depends on identification, household vulnerability and targeting, not simply on registration as unemployed. The PSSNP expansion for 2025–2029 covers nine high-risk provinces and combines productive support, cash transfers and resilience measures, but it does not create an automatic unemployment right. Informal workers, farmers, pastoralists, self-employed people, refugees and internally displaced people often remain outside formal unemployment protection, so humanitarian or community assistance may be the only temporary bridge after a livelihood shock.