Rise in graduate and youth unemployment in Morocco

University World News reports dated 12 February 2016, (Issue No. 167) that although unemployment nationally fell in Morocco between 2014 and 2015, the jobless rates for young people rose – with nearly a quarter of university graduates registered as unemployed – according to a report from the government’s planning institution the Haut Commissariat au Plan.

The briefing note on the labour market situation in 2015 reported that, overall, unemployment decreased by 1.6% during the year. Groups who benefited most were those without qualifications and adults aged between 35 and 44 years. But, said the Haut Commissariat au Plan: “Unemployment remains particularly high among graduates and young people aged 15-24 years.”

In 2015 the unemployment rates were:

• 4.1% among people with no qualifications.
• 15.6% for a group comprising people with primary, lower secondary and vocational qualifications. But in this group, people with specialised vocational certificates who were without work represented 24.2%.
• 21.2% among holders of degrees or higher specialised technical diplomas – with a higher rate of 24.4% for university graduates (compared with 24.1% unemployed in 2014).

Unemployment was higher for young people living in urban areas. While the overall rate for people aged 15-24 years was 20.8%, it was 39% for town-dwellers compared with 9.7% for all people aged over 15, said the note. It also revealed that about eight out of 10 unemployed people lived in towns. Nearly two-thirds were aged between 15 and 29 years, and nearly three in 10 (29%) held a degree or other higher diploma. More than half (51.7%) were first-time job-seekers.