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.
