Rabat – In Morocco, minimum wages are significantly lower than the survival baseline, or what could be described as a living wage, a report by Oxfam International released on Monday.
Some of the world’s richest gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos to attend the report’s presentation. Initial findings indicate that more than half of respondents consider it is difficult or impossible to increase their incomes, despite working hard.
While presenting the survey, Oxfam representatives shared information about the current high levels of wealth concentration and low social mobility. In Morocco, the richest 10 percent of Moroccans have a standard of living 12 times higher than the poorest 10 percent, a gap that has not decreased since the 1990s.
At the present, three wealthy Moroccan billionaires alone hold S4.5 billion. Per year, their wealth is equivalent of the income of 375,000 poorest Moroccans during the same period. Fifteen percent of Moroccan respondents identified the government as responsible for reducing the wealth gap between rich and poor, Oxfam reported.
“The reality of inequalities in Morocco is well pronounced and calls for ambitious measures. It is now up to the government and the various institutions of the country to tackle the root of the scourge of inequality, creating an economic system that benefits all, not only a few privileged,” said Abdeljalil Laroussi, spokesman for Oxfam in Morocco.
Earlier this month, Nizar Baraka, president of the Social Economic and Environmental Council (CESE) stated that it is impossible to reach a per capita income of S1,000 per month by 2030.
In 2017 alone, 82 percent of global wealth went to the 1 percent of the world’s richest individuals; their collective wealth increase of S762 billion is enough money to end “global extreme poverty seven times over,” reported Oxfam.In a world where 50 percent of the world poorest have seen no increase in wealth during the last year, a new individual reaches billionaire status every two days.
For Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International: “The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system. The people who make our clothes, assemble our phones and grow our food are being exploited to ensure a steady supply of cheap goods, and swell the profits of corporations and billionaire investors.”
