The unemployment rate in Morocco reached 13.1% in the second quarter of 2024, up from 12.4% compared to the same period last year, according to Morocco’s Statistics and Forecasts Office (HCP)
The ongoing drought is continuing to ravage the agricultural sector in Morocco, with rural areas bearing the brunt of the trend, HCP pointed out in a report published on Friday. At the end of the second quarter of 2024, unemployment in rural areas reached 6.7% increasing by one basis point.
“The unemployment rate thus rose by 0.7 points between the second quarter of 2023 and that of 2024, from 12.4% to 13.1%, from 16.3% to 16.7% in urban areas (+0.4 points) and from 5.7% to 6.7% in rural areas (+1 point),” HCP said.
It also recorded an increase of 0.7 points among women and among men, from 17% to 17.7% and from 11% to 11.7% respectively.
The number of unemployed rose by 90,000 between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024, from 1,543,000 to 1,633,000, corresponding to an increase of 6% (+48,000 unemployed in urban areas and +42,000 in rural areas).
The HCP also reported that the unemployment rate rose by 2.5 points among young people aged 15 to 24, from 33.6% to 36.1%, by 1.6 points among those aged 25 to 34, from 19.8% to 21.4%, by 0.1 points among those aged 35 to 44, from 7.2% to 7.3%, and by 0.1 points among those aged 45 and over, from 3.6% to 3.7%.
The unemployment rate among graduates rose by 0.2 points, from 19.2% to 19.4%. This rise was more pronounced among holders of secondary education qualifications (+3.2 points), to 26.1%.
Between the second quarters of 2023 and 2024, the number of underemployed persons increased from 983,000 to 1,042,000 countrywide.
Underemployment increased from 9% to 9.6% nationwide, 8.4% to 8.3% in cities, and 9.9% to 11.6% in rural regions.
In terms of hours worked the number of underemployed persons in the workforce increased from 465,000 to 583,000 overall. The equivalent rate increased from 4.2% to 5.4%.
The number of people in employment who are underemployed, in terms of insufficient income or mismatch between training and job, fell from 518,000 to 459,000 nationwide. The corresponding rate rose from 4.7% to 4.2%.