Rabat – Unemployment among university graduates in Morocco reached its highest level in over 18 years, reaching 25.9% among university degree holders in 2023.
According to new data from the country’s Higher Commission of Planning (HCP), unemployment among university graduates has been on an alarming trend across Morocco, going from 21% in 2019 to nearly 26% in 2021.
The unemployment rate for graduates with higher-level diplomas remained relatively stagnant at 25.9%. Within this category, however, holders of diplomas from schools and institutes, including medical and pharmacy doctorates, experienced a 0.7 percentage point increase to 9.4%.
Unemployment among university graduates is almost twice the national average of 13% recorded at the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, graduates with intermediate-level diplomas saw the most significant surge, with the unemployment rate climbing from 14.1% to 15.8%. The increase was particularly pronounced among those with specialized professional certifications, rising by 2.5 percentage points to 25%.
The number of unemployed individuals who have previously worked rose from 673,000 to 771,000 between 2022 and 2023, with their share rising from 46.7% to 48.8%.
Nearly 80.9% of previously employed unemployed individuals reside in urban areas, more than three-quarters are men (79%), and over half of them are young people aged 15 to 34 (56.7%).
Even more telling, nearly 7 out of 10 individuals (71.2%) who exited the job market have a university degree.
In terms of age, the majority of unemployed individuals, or 82.3% reside in urban areas in 2023, and among them, 75% are under 35 years old.
Meanwhile, 82.6% of the unemployed are graduates, and 31.1% are women. Nearly half of the unemployed (51.2%) are first-time job seekers, and a high percentage (66%) have been unemployed for a year or more.
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