By Loubna Flah
By Loubna Flah
Morocco World News
Casablanca, August 5, 2012
Apparently, the measures undertaken by the current government to face unemployment still fall short of the nation’s expectations. The recent creation of jobs is hardly enough to stop the drain in the employment sector. The High Commission for Planning (HCP) investigation reveals that young graduates are mostly affected by long term unemployment, especially those who set off on their job quest journey for the first time.
The HCP reports that 80% of jobless Moroccans live in urban areas and 68, 9 % of unemployed people age category ranges from 15 to 29 years old. The statistics show also that 67, 1 % of jobless people have been unemployed for more than a year. Unemployment remains a real plague affecting a large segment of the Moroccan population despite the measures undertaken by the government.
On the other hand, the HCP pinpoints that the government has created 112,000 jobs in the period between 2011 and 2012. The Urban areas benefited more from these measures with the creation of 164,000 jobs. A severe loss, however, was recorded in the rural areas where 52 000 jobs were lost, mainly due to the drop in agriculture production especially in crop fields that usually secures a high number of jobs.
The sector of services contributes greatly in employing a large number of Moroccans. This sector has created so far more than 111 000 jobs that include sales and after sale services.
The HCP pinpoints that sectors like transport, Hotel and Catering have lost 42,000 jobs. Industry has also recorded a drop by 3 % in their employability. In fact, the financial crisis in Europe has cast its grim shadow on the textile sector and the automobile industry. Faced with a low demand from their European customers, the national textile industrials are facing hard times.
It is noteworthy that 25, 6% of jobless people lost their jobs after their employers ceased their activity or as a result of dismissal, whereas 21,4 % became unemployed after they obtained a degree and made their journey into the job market.
Nevertheless, the unemployment rate in 2012 has slightly dropped in comparison with last year. It has reached 8,1 % instead of 8, 7 recorded in 2011. The unemployment crisis affects more the urban areas with a 12, 3%, while its rate does not exceed between 3, and 5% in rural areas.
The HCP report reveals also that the unemployment rate decreased considerably among urban dwellers with (- 1, 9%) for women and (-1, 6) for men aged between 35 and 44.
The possibility that French investors may relocate their call centers- which secure more than 40 0000 jobs in Morocco- back to France is no good news. As the economic crisis tightens its grip over the old continent, the French government is digging deep for rescue plans that would stimulate the domestic growth. The debate is heated now in France over the relocation of call centers in France in the name of “protectionism.”
If more jobs are lost, the job demands will inevitably suffer a fatal blow. The prospects that the government may create more jobs in the public sector are really dire.
The private sector, which crippled by competition in a globalized world, fails to recruit a large part of the workforce.
