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Rabat – As the drought in Morocco enters its sixth consecutive year, the labor market continues to bleed jobs due to the rising inactivity rate among agriculture workers.
Alarming new data from the High Commission of Planning (HCP) indicates that the rate of unemployment has reached a sweeping 13.7% annual rate at the end of the first quarter of 2024, up from 12.9% a year earlier.
The rate is the highest Morocco has ever seen since HCP began collecting data in 1999, with rural areas bearing the brunt of the trend.
At the end of the first quarter of 2024, rural areas would have lost 159,000 jobs over the past 12 months. The colossal loss in jobs was partially offset by the creation of 78,000 jobs in urban areas. Overall, the national economy experienced a loss of 80,000 jobs.
The agriculture sector alone hemorrhaged 206,000 positions. Meanwhile, the survival sector created 34,000 jobs, whereas the construction sector created 25,000.
Unemployment remains widely prevalent among young people, university graduates, and women, the report indicates. Nearly 36% of young people aged 15 to 24 are jobless, 20% of graduates, and 20% of women.
Concerning underemployment, the overall rate remained stable at 10.3% nationally and dropped from 9.1% to 9% in urban areas and from 12.1% to 12.5% in rural areas.
Underemployment refers to a situation where individuals are working in jobs that do not fully utilize their skills, education, or availability for work, often resulting in part-time or low-wage employment.