Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment, and Skills Younes Sekkouri confirmed on Friday that “Awrach,” the new government employment program, will launch in January 2022.
A budget of MAD 2.25 billion ($241 million) will be dedicated to the initiative, which is projected to benefit 125 thousand people in 2022.
The minister’s statement came during a meeting on employment and economic integration in the southern Moroccan city of Guelmim, where he clarified that “Awrach” will benefit more than 250 people across Morocco over the next two years.
Despite the ongoing global health crisis, the Moroccan government has succeeded in securing considerable funding for the program, Sekkouri said.
“Forsa,” another program that has a budget of MAD 1.25 billion (USD $134 million), aims to benefit small business owners.
The minister spoke emphatically of the importance of meeting the projects’ goals to fulfill Moroccans’ needs when it comes to employment and the economy.
Morocco’s government launched bids to boost employment and create new job opportunities, amid a global rise of unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government dedicated MAD 3 billion (USD $331 million) to support employment and entrepreneurship initiatives, pledging to create 250,000 job openings in the next two years.
Recent numbers showed that the unemployment levels in Morocco are much higher than they were before the pandemic.
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The unemployment rate went up by 0.5% in the second quarter of this year, to become 12.8%, according to Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP).
The rise was especially recorded in urban areas and among highly educated workers.
Although Moroccan efforts to overcome the social and economic repercussions of the pandemic have considerably mitigated some of the effects of COVID-19, the economic crisis seems to be far from over.
Recent reports also indicate that digitization and digital literacy are among the most important elements to improve the Moroccan job market.
