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Fez – Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) announced on February 3 that Morocco has created 230,000 jobs, including 130,000 in rural areas and 100,000 in urban areas, in 2021.
The number is a remarkable increase compared to the 165,000 jobs created in 2019 and an average annual creation of 121,000 in the three pre-pandemic years, according to the HCP.
While the number of new jobs has increased, current working people have also had to work significantly longer hours. The overall number of hours worked per week has increased from 394 million hours in 2020 to 470 million hours in 2021, representing a 19% increase in working hours.
The number of hours worked per week climbed from 237 million to 287 million (+21%) in urban areas and from 158 million to 183 million hours (+16%) in rural areas.
The HCP report indicates that the increase in the labor force participation rate is the result of an increase in the working-age population (15 years and older) of 1.4%, compared to 2020, and an increase in the working population of 3%.
The female labor force participation rate increased to 20.9% compared to 70.4% for men.
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Furthermore, according to the HCP, the national employment rate increased from 39.4% to 39.7% (35.1% in urban and 48.4% in rural areas).
Men’s employment rates have fallen (-0.2 points) while women’s rates have risen (+0.7 points). However, the employment rate is still lower than it was before the pandemic (41.6% in 2019).
The report outlined an increase in the unemployment rate from 11.9% to 12.3%. It is higher among young adults aged 15 to 24 (31.8%), graduates (19.6%), and women with the lowest rate (16.8%).
During the same time period, the number of unemployed persons increased from 1,127,000 to 1,003,000. Underemployment has thus decreased from 10.7% to 9.3% at the national level, from 10.1 to 8.8% in urban regions, and from 11.6 to 10% in rural areas.
