Unemployment, inactivity of women, NEET…These ills which undermine employment in Morocco

The Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) and the World Bank are dedicating a seminar to employment. It was at the end of last week in Rabat. And the least we can say is that there is, precisely, a lot to say, the daily newspaper reports The Economist in its edition of Tuesday, July 2.

In Morocco, the unemployment rate rose to 13.7% in the first quarter of 2024, with significant differences from one place of residence to another. In urban areas, this rate reached 17.6%. Thus, the most affected by unemployment from January to March 2024 were young people aged 15 to 24 (35.9%), followed by graduates and women, with respective proportions of 20.3% and 20.1%.

«Other challenges have persisted for about twenty years. And this is despite the many efforts to combat them, including the adoption of the new labor code, the restructuring of the public employment service and labor market policies, and the continuous upgrading of the statistical system.», lit-on.

This is, in this case, the activity rate of women, which reached a low of 18.3% in the first quarter of 2024. Worse, the growing number of young women who are educated but inactive. This is evidence of the shortage of jobs corresponding to their skills.

“Barriers to labour market participation vary depending on individual characteristics and geographical context. In the private sector, several barriers to paid employment include gaps in the legal framework and its enforcement and working conditions that are difficult to reconcile with family responsibilities,” lit-on encore.

On the same list of challenges, we find that one in four young Moroccans (26.1%), aged 15 to 24, find themselves in the NEET category (neither in employment, nor in education, nor in training), i.e. a little over 1.5 million young people (2023 data).

For the executive president of the PCNS, Karim El Aynaoui, “The NEET phenomenon particularly affects women and young people in rural areas. Once attractive, the agricultural sector is no longer able to retain young people, thus contributing to their gradual disengagement from the labour market. The average age of agricultural workers is increasing, reflecting the difficulty in renewing the workforce in this vital sector.