Morocco’s Job Market Shrinks as Drought Impacts Rural Employment

Between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, the overall volume of employment recorded a decline of 80,000 jobs, with a loss of 159,000 jobs in rural areas, mainly unpaid, offset by the creation of 78,000 jobs in urban areas.

Only the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector is escaping this gloomy trend, with a loss of 206,000 jobs. All other sectors of the Moroccan economy have contributed to job creation, the HCP notes in its note published on Friday, May 3. The services sector stands out as the largest job provider, with 63,000 jobs generated, followed by industry with 34,000 jobs and construction with 25,000 jobs.

Despite this slight creation of urban jobs, unemployment continues to rise. The volume of unemployment at the national level increased by 96,000 people, divided between 59,000 in urban areas and 38,000 in rural areas, reaching a total of 1,645,000 people. The national unemployment rate is now 13.7%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2023. This increase is more pronounced in rural areas (+1.1 points) where the unemployment rate reaches 6.8%, compared to 17.6% in urban areas (+0.5 points).

Young people, graduates and women remain the most affected by unemployment. The unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 remains particularly high at 35.9%, while that of graduates stands at 20.3% and that of women at 20.1%.

Five regions alone account for 71.2% of the unemployed in Morocco. The Casablanca-Settat region is in the lead with a share of 25.4%, followed by Fès-Meknès (13.4%), Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (13%), the Oriental (10%) and Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima (9.4%).