By Omar Bihmidine
By Omar Bihmidine
Morocco World News
Rabat, June 9, 2012
A report presented on Thursday in Rabat by the Council of Moroccan Living Abroad (CCME) reveals that Moroccan immigrants living in Spain are more psychologically and financially affected by the economic crisis plaguing Spain. According to Walter Akriss, an economy specialist, the percentage of unemployment among Moroccan immigrants has reached 50,7 %, representing nearly half the average total of Spanish unemployment.
On the other hand, in accordance with 2010 statistics, 133000 Moroccan immigrants no longer receive any financial support or benefit from any welfare program. The crux of the matter is that the number of these immigrants has multiplied for the last two years because of the increasingly grave situation of the economic crisis.
With respect to the report, thousands of Moroccan families who used to live on the amount sent to them by these immigrants are now suffering a financial ordeal, particularly now that many immigrants are made redundant and others were laid off by Spanish agriculture companies.
Still worse is the fact that the Moroccan immigrants have turned into notorious victims of marginalization, social negligence and racial biases. The report also points out that the Moroccan families in Spain who make up an active working class, which the economy of Spain exploits, are now being affected by the effects of unemployment. The latter is now estimated at 23% in the country
Since 2011, approximately 82,2 % of Moroccan immigrants living and working in Spain have endured both financial and social instability, and this is, according to statistics, attributed to the high levels of redundancy.
Among the ramifications of the current Spanish economic crisis is the conspicuous decline of Morocco-Spain money transfer. From 2007 to 2010, the decline is estimated at 33%. Moroccan families who have heavily relied on these transfers now begin to feel desperate about their livelihood, especially that they too are affected to a higher extent by the economic crisis of Spain.
Serving as a warning, though, the report clearly hints at an impending danger of the effects of deterioration of the standards of living for both Moroccan families living in Morocco and those living in Spain, and marginalization among the Moroccan unemployed in Spain, especially at a time when the rate of unemployment in Spain has exceeded 6 million people until now
