Self-employed status in Morocco: after euphoria, the flop?

From 2015 to date, there are 615,660 people who have joined the self-employment scheme, of which 389,565 are active, according to figures obtained by L’Économiste from Barid Al Maghrib. By sector, 44% of registrations concern the services sector, 40% commercial activities, 9% industry and 7% crafts. The year 2020 marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led the authorities to declare a state of health emergency, with mandatory administrative closures and layoffs, saw a strong membership. The number of members climbed to 174,665. Currently, at least 5,000 files are under study. On the other hand, the number of deregistrations stands at 118,116, of which nearly three-quarters in the last two years.

By nationality, nationals represent the overwhelming majority, around 98.3%. As for foreigners, they are only barely 1.07% (10,437 people). By periodicity, 554,155 self-employed workers operate on a permanent basis (89.32%) against 66,250 practicing seasonal activities (i.e. 10.68%). Of the 615,660 people who operate from their homes without the obligation to have a registered office or to be domiciled, 262,117 work from home, i.e. 42.25%, while 12.52% carry out their activities in a store and 7.05% on site.

To read: Morocco’s Self-Entrepreneur Boom Raises Tax Evasion Concerns

A sharp increase in registration requests was recorded in 2020. But the requests have declined in the following years: 104,529 registrations in 2021, 73,519 people in 2022, then 61,160 in 2023. Only 3,820 registrations were recorded in the first two months of 2024.