Morocco’s Unemployment Rate Climbs to 12.5% in Q1 2021, Rural Areas Hit Hard

In this document, the HCP specifies that in rural areas the rate has experienced a sharp increase from 3.9 to 5.3%. The same is true in urban areas where the figures have risen from 15.1 to 17.1%. The note also shows that the number of unemployed people increased by 242,000 between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, from 1,292,000 to 1,534,000 unemployed, which corresponds to an increase of 19%. This increase is the result of an increase of 185,000 unemployed in urban areas and 57,000 in rural areas.

Among women in general, the figures also show a 3.2% increase, while among the female population aged 15 to 24, there is a 5.7 point increase, from 26.8% to 32.5%, while the unemployment rate of graduates has recorded a 2 point increase and reached 19.8%.

Still in the first quarter of the current year, the number of underemployed people increased by 34,000 compared to the same period in 2020, which was 21,000 in the cities and 12,000 in the countryside. According to the same source, underemployment among men is almost twice as high as among women. In the city, this rate is 9% compared to 8.3% for women and in rural areas, 2.5%. Within the urban population, the underemployment rate among men is 12%, five times higher than that of women, the HCP notes.