Current situation of the labor market in Morocco: significant gaps between urban and rural areas

HIBAPRESS-RABAT-HCP

The current situation of the labor market in Morocco is fueling an intense national debate. According to the High Commission for Planning, the unemployment rate is 13.7% in the first quarter of 2024, with significant gaps between urban and rural areas, reaching 17.6% in urban areas and 6.8% in rural areas. Young people aged 15 to 24 are the most affected, with an unemployment rate of 35.9%, followed by graduates (20.3%) and women (20.1%).

At the same time, the female activity rate reached a low point of 18.3% in the first quarter of 2024. In addition, one in four young Moroccans (26.1%), aged 15 to 24, finds themselves in the NEET category (neither in employment, nor in education, nor in training), or just over 1.5 million young people, according to the latest data available in 2023.

Job creation has also slowed, from 32,000 jobs per point of growth between 2000 and 2009 to just 20,000 between 2010 and 2019. In addition, the national economy lost 181,000 jobs between 2021 and 2023.

Furthermore, and despite the increase in salaried employment in recent years, the quality of the jobs created represents a major challenge, particularly due to the weight of the informal sector (one third of non-agricultural jobs) and the often noted mismatch between training programmes and real needs on the labour market.

These challenges persist despite numerous efforts over the past twenty years, notably the adoption of a new labor code, the restructuring of the public employment service and labor market policies, the continuous upgrading of statistical system, etc.