Rabat – The unemployment rate in Morocco increases with the skill level, rising from 3.1% among Moroccans who have no diploma to 15.7% for those with a formal qualification.
The rate also climbs from 12.4% among people with a high school diploma to 21.6% for those with a higher education degree.
Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) revealed the recent numbers in a press release.
Unemployment is most frequent among graduates from universities (23.6%) and technical and management schools (23.9%) than it is among people with certificates of vocational training (20.9%).
In terms of age, unemployment affects young people more, reaching 24.9% for Moroccans aged 15 to 24. The unemployment rate stands at only 7% among people aged 25 and over.
The rate is also significantly higher in urban areas. In cities, around 39.2% of young people aged between 15-24 and 9.9% of people aged above 25 are unemployed.
As for gender, unemployment affects women more than men, with rates reaching 13.5% and 7.8% respectively. Again, the number is higher in urban areas than in rural regions, with 21.8% of women and 10.3% of men residing in cities unemployed.
The regions where the unemployment rate is the highest are the Casablanca-Settat region (25%), Rabat-Sale-Kenitra (15.8%), Fez-Meknes (11%), Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (9.9%) and the Oriental region (9.9%).
More than half of unemployed Moroccans (57.2%) are looking for their first job. Nearly three-quarters of them (73%) are living in five Moroccan regions: Casablanca-Settat (21%), Rabat-Sale-Kenitra (18%), Fez-Meknes (12.9%), Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (12.4%), and Marrakech-Safi (8.7%).
Regarding the duration of unemployment, more than two-thirds of unemployed Moroccans (67.8%) have been unemployed for more than one year.
In their search for a job, around 64.9% of Moroccans ask their relatives for help, 31.4% ask their connections, and 33.5% contact the employers directly.
The least used methods to look for jobs are responding to job offers (18.2%) and contacting mediation institutions such as ANAPEC (5%).
According to an earlier report from the HCP, the number of the unemployed population in Morocco decreased from 1.13 million people in 2018 to 1.10 million in 2019.
The rate fell from 9.5% to 9.2% at the national level, decreasing from 13.8% to 12.9% in urban areas and slightly increasing from 3.6% to 3.7% in rural areas.
