Rabat – The unemployment rate is the highest among Moroccan youth, it has slightly dropped from 27.5% in the first three quarters of 2018 to 26.7% in 2019.
Morocco’s overall unemployment rate rose to 9.4% in the third quarter of 2019 compared to 9.3% in the same period a year earlier, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
In a briefing note on key indicators of the labor market, HCP said that the number of job seekers in Morocco has risen from 1,088,000 to 1,144,000 in the third quarter of 2019. The numbers represent an increase of 26,000 people, of whom 23,000 are in rural areas and 3,000 in urban areas.
The unemployment rate dropped from 13.1% to 12.7% in urban areas, however, it rose from 3.9% to 4.5% in rural areas, said the HCP.
Unemployment remains relatively high among young people aged 15 to 24 with a rate of 26.7% compared to 7% among people above 25 years old. During the same period in 2018, the unemployment rate among youth was 27.5%.
According to the HCP statistics, the unemployment rate among women stood at 13.9% compared to 8% among men, while diploma holders’ unemployment rate reached 15.5% compared to 3.7% among people with no degree.
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The HCP pointed out that more than half of the unemployed (55.3%) are looking for their first job, while 66,8% are in long-term unemployment (62.2% of men and 75.1% of women).
Approximately 27.8% are unemployed because they were fired or their employer’s activity was suspended.
Underemployment
HCP also released data on underemployment rates. Underemployment is when workers are only able to find a part-time job when they are searching for full-time employment.
Underemployment can also be linked to insufficient income and how well their skills and training are adequately used in the job occupied.
The number of people who are underemployed due to a lack of working hours increased to reach 380,000 overall in the first quarter of 2019.
Meanwhile, the number of people classed as underemployed due to insufficient income or the mismatch between training and employment has fallen to 589,000 overall, a rate of 5.6%.
The national volume of underemployment, in both its components, dropped from 1,021,000 persons in the third quarter of 2018 to 969,000 in the same period in 2019, with a rate of 9.1% (7.8% in the urban area and 10.8% in rural areas).
The underemployment rate for men is as high as 10.2%, while among women it sits at only 5.2%.
