Morocco’s Underemployment Rate Drops to 9.3%, But Challenges Persist

At the national level, the number of underemployed population reached more than one million people in 2021, i.e. an underemployment rate of 9.3% against 14.6% in 2000. Although this represents a decrease, the level of underemployment remains high. With an average rate of 17.3% during the 2007-2021 period, the construction sector is where underemployment is more frequent. There is an underemployment rate of 10.3% for employed persons in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, compared to 7.1% for the industry sector (including crafts) and 8.9% for the services sector. The underemployment rate remains almost the same, in urban (10.7%) or rural (10.4%) areas.

According to the study, underemployment is massive for certain specific workers such as young workers aged 15 to 29 with less work experience (14.4%). As for gender, women are much more affected by this phenomenon, with an underemployment rate that reached 17.8% against 9.8% for men in 2019. "Being a woman increases the probability of being underemployed by 4%, due to her use of part-time work to reconcile professional and family life and her vulnerable position in terms of access to the labor market," say the authors of the study. As for technicians, senior technicians and executives, they have the highest underemployment rate (19.8%). The unskilled have 11.6%.

The study also notes that the risk of underemployment is four times higher among workers in the household sector (gardening, domestic workers...) than among those engaged in the public and semi-public sector.