Employment: The battle plan.
17 March 2015
Read by 2104 persons
ALM exclusively unveils the main outlines of the new national employment strategy.
The employment strategy for the next ten years is almost ready. Long awaited, the new national employment strategy (SNE) should be made public in a few days. ALM provides, in preview, some of the main lines of the document that will decide the future of employment in Morocco.
According to sources close to the file, the strategy will set a target of 200,000 new jobs per year. A figure able to counteract the increase in female inactivity as well as the rise in the number of unemployed and underemployed people. Three-quarters of these jobs will have to be created in the services sector for businesses, individuals and the environment. The new SNE would even, according to our sources, provide a reorientation of growth towards new professions, based on knowledge and the protection of the country's natural ecosystems.
To achieve this objective, the strategy proposes four orientations, as ambitious as each other. It will be, firstly, to reorient the macroeconomic and territorial policies of the country so that they are more job-creating. The priority sectors, in this sense, will be those strongly competed by foreign countries, those including the largest number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the services sector. For this, the strategy provides for the implementation of several specific programs which will have to be complementary to those already undertaken, in particular concerning SMEs.
Another huge project that the SNE plans to tackle is that of governance in the labor market. Thus, the strategy provides for the creation of two new bodies, the SNE monitoring committee and the regional employment committees. They will be responsible, alongside the interministerial employment committee, for preparing multi-annual and annual programs on the different segments of the employment market. It is on the basis of these programs that the financing allocated to the regional funds for employment basin policies will be decided after their integration into the Finance Act.
Also on the governance aspect, the strategy also plans to include adjustments in the regulatory framework of the employment relationship on the agenda of the social dialogue between the unions and the government. The two parties will have to examine a series of measures aimed at better protecting precarious workers, facilitating women's access to the workplace and encouraging the hiring of young people.
Third strategic orientation for employment, the enhancement of the country's human capital through particular attention paid to the social aspect of employment. Overall, it will be a question of facilitating women's access to employment, setting up training programs for young school leavers, strengthening continuing education, developing work-study programs and improving the employability of the unemployed.
The strategy also plans to expand the coverage of Ramed and to address the dysfunctions that are hindering its implementation, to reform and extend social security schemes and to ensure better prevention of occupational accidents.
Finally, according to the new SNE, the prerogatives of Anapec will soon have to expand. The employment search guidance services will have to cover all job seeker profiles (graduates or not), with particular attention to women and people with disabilities. To achieve this, Anapec will have to build a network with public and private actors in the labor market, civil society and, more broadly, the general public.
200,000 jobs per year, where does this figure come from?
According to projections by the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, Morocco will need around 200,000 new jobs per year to absorb unemployment, female inactivity and underemployment. Where does this figure come from? Explanations. There are around 600,000 young people reaching working age (15 years) each year. Some will not enter the labor market, while others will replace people who have left their jobs. The rest will need a tailor-made job.
In figures, among the 600,000 who will have blown out their 15th candle, about 70,000 will continue their studies, thereby increasing the school population and lengthening the average duration of studies in Morocco. A significant proportion, 330,000 people, will replace people leaving the labor market.
They will be divided between 150,000 who will replace people reaching retirement age, 80,000 who will replace emigrants or decide themselves to leave the country and 100,000 who will replace women who have decided to leave their jobs to become housewives. A few additions and a subtraction later: 210,000 young people will, each year, need new jobs.
Genesis of the SNE
Last Tuesday, representatives of the main ministerial departments, national trade union centers and the CGEM (General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises) gathered around the same table, with, in their hands, a first version of the national employment strategy (SNE). Chaired by the Minister of Employment and Social Affairs, Abdeslam Seddiki, this first meeting of the SNE steering committee examined the document proposing a new approach to employment policy in Morocco. According to sources close to the file, the new strategy has been the subject of a strong consensus around its main orientations. The social partners would, in particular, have expressed their willingness to actively participate in its implementation.
In the same logic of the multidimensional approach proposed by the SNE, the formulation process it has undergone had been conducted in a participatory manner, including all the actors concerned. A tripartite technical committee (ministries, unions and CGEM) had been set up and tasked with enriching and monitoring the development of the new strategy. The SNE, which should be made public in a few days, proposes a series of short and medium-term measures, with a consultation agenda extending between 2015 and 2025.
Aujourdhui.ma
Published on March 3, 2015.
Posted online on March 17, 2015.
The employment strategy for the next ten years is almost ready. Long awaited, the new national employment strategy (SNE) should be made public in a few days. ALM provides, in preview, some of the main lines of the document that will decide the future of employment in Morocco.
According to sources close to the file, the strategy will set a target of 200,000 new jobs per year. A figure able to counteract the increase in female inactivity as well as the rise in the number of unemployed and underemployed people. Three-quarters of these jobs will have to be created in the services sector for businesses, individuals and the environment. The new SNE would even, according to our sources, provide a reorientation of growth towards new professions, based on knowledge and the protection of the country's natural ecosystems.
To achieve this objective, the strategy proposes four orientations, as ambitious as each other. It will be, firstly, to reorient the macroeconomic and territorial policies of the country so that they are more job-creating. The priority sectors, in this sense, will be those strongly competed by foreign countries, those including the largest number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the services sector. For this, the strategy provides for the implementation of several specific programs which will have to be complementary to those already undertaken, in particular concerning SMEs.
Another huge project that the SNE plans to tackle is that of governance in the labor market. Thus, the strategy provides for the creation of two new bodies, the SNE monitoring committee and the regional employment committees. They will be responsible, alongside the interministerial employment committee, for preparing multi-annual and annual programs on the different segments of the employment market. It is on the basis of these programs that the financing allocated to the regional funds for employment basin policies will be decided after their integration into the Finance Act.
Also on the governance aspect, the strategy also plans to include adjustments in the regulatory framework of the employment relationship on the agenda of the social dialogue between the unions and the government. The two parties will have to examine a series of measures aimed at better protecting precarious workers, facilitating women's access to the workplace and encouraging the hiring of young people.
Third strategic orientation for employment, the enhancement of the country's human capital through particular attention paid to the social aspect of employment. Overall, it will be a question of facilitating women's access to employment, setting up training programs for young school leavers, strengthening continuing education, developing work-study programs and improving the employability of the unemployed.
The strategy also plans to expand the coverage of Ramed and to address the dysfunctions that are hindering its implementation, to reform and extend social security schemes and to ensure better prevention of occupational accidents.
Finally, according to the new SNE, the prerogatives of Anapec will soon have to expand. The employment search guidance services will have to cover all job seeker profiles (graduates or not), with particular attention to women and people with disabilities. To achieve this, Anapec will have to build a network with public and private actors in the labor market, civil society and, more broadly, the general public.
200,000 jobs per year, where does this figure come from?
According to projections by the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, Morocco will need around 200,000 new jobs per year to absorb unemployment, female inactivity and underemployment. Where does this figure come from? Explanations. There are around 600,000 young people reaching working age (15 years) each year. Some will not enter the labor market, while others will replace people who have left their jobs. The rest will need a tailor-made job.
In figures, among the 600,000 who will have blown out their 15th candle, about 70,000 will continue their studies, thereby increasing the school population and lengthening the average duration of studies in Morocco. A significant proportion, 330,000 people, will replace people leaving the labor market.
They will be divided between 150,000 who will replace people reaching retirement age, 80,000 who will replace emigrants or decide themselves to leave the country and 100,000 who will replace women who have decided to leave their jobs to become housewives. A few additions and a subtraction later: 210,000 young people will, each year, need new jobs.
Genesis of the SNE
Last Tuesday, representatives of the main ministerial departments, national trade union centers and the CGEM (General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises) gathered around the same table, with, in their hands, a first version of the national employment strategy (SNE). Chaired by the Minister of Employment and Social Affairs, Abdeslam Seddiki, this first meeting of the SNE steering committee examined the document proposing a new approach to employment policy in Morocco. According to sources close to the file, the new strategy has been the subject of a strong consensus around its main orientations. The social partners would, in particular, have expressed their willingness to actively participate in its implementation.
In the same logic of the multidimensional approach proposed by the SNE, the formulation process it has undergone had been conducted in a participatory manner, including all the actors concerned. A tripartite technical committee (ministries, unions and CGEM) had been set up and tasked with enriching and monitoring the development of the new strategy. The SNE, which should be made public in a few days, proposes a series of short and medium-term measures, with a consultation agenda extending between 2015 and 2025.
Aujourdhui.ma
Published on March 3, 2015.
Posted online on March 17, 2015.
