Rabat – Unemployment in Morocco has fallen slightly, compared to the data from the previous year. A 2022 quarterly report by the High Commission for Planning (HCP) in Morocco shows a 0.4% decline in the country’s unemployment rate, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, reported Morocco’s press agency (MAP) on Thursday.
This first quarter decrease is affected by a simultaneous gradual decline in unemployment in both the urban and rural areas.
Urban areas registered a decrease in the rate of unemployment from 17.1%, in the first quarter of 2021, to 16.3% in the same period in 2022. Whereas, rural areas recorded a slight decrease of 0.2%, from 5.3% in 2021’s first quarter to 5.1% in the same period in 2022.
Between the first quarters of 2021 and 2022, the number of unemployed Moroccans fell by 68,000, from 1,534,000 to 1,466,000. According to MAP, this decrease is approximately 52,000 in urban areas and 16,000 in rural areas.
The unemployment rate among Moroccan women also fell by 0.2%, from 17.5% in the first quarter of 2021, to 17.3% in the first quarter of 2022.
On the other hand, the employment rate among higher education graduates rose from 26.2% in 2021’s first quarter, to 26.7% in the same period in 2022. The highest increase was registered among specialized and higher qualified technicians in Morocco, from 31.8% in 2021’s first quarter to 35% in 2022’s first quarter.
The HCP reported, in August 2021, that Morocco’s national unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2021 stood at 12.8%.
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The World Bank released, in April 2021, its “Morocco Job Landscape” report, which highlighted major structural issues obstructing the development and growth of the Moroccan labor market.
The report identified four priorities in Morocco, including encouraging labor sector formalization, improving job quality, increasing female labor force participation, and supporting youth in transitioning from education to the labor market.
In response to the report, Ahmed Lahlimi Alami, president of the HCP, stated that employment is critical to Moroccan economic growth, and that the HCP will launch a detailed employment account to measure productivity by activity, gender, qualification, and economic agents.
