Sectoral Planning to Boost Youth Employment
4 September 2012
Read by 1466 persons
Job prospects for young people are certainly uncertain. Morocco has implemented a range of measures to address this structural problem.
Only strong growth could stimulate job creation.
Despite economic performance, Morocco faces persistent dysfunctions in the labor market. Currently, the situation presents a configuration marked by significant imbalances that manifest themselves with varying degrees of severity in all segments of this market. According to "African Economic Outlook", the country faces a structural unemployment problem. Despite the annual creation of 156,000 jobs, the average economic growth rate (over the last ten years) has proved insufficient to absorb the arrival of new graduates in the labor market. Some data on the employment situation show that unemployment particularly affects urban populations, young people entering the labor market for the first time, young graduates, women, and marginalized social groups.
This situation, which has persisted for several years and even tends to worsen, results from a combination of unfavorable factors affecting both supply and demand. To remedy this, the option has been taken for proactive public policies to facilitate the integration of the unemployed and stimulate entrepreneurship. The difficulty of unemployed young people in integrating into the job market is mainly due to the mismatch between training offered and the needs of the labor market. In fact, it is explained, most of these young graduates hardly envisage their future outside the public service. In this context, the same sources recall, "the Moroccan authorities have undertaken an ambitious reform of higher education to align the training courses offered with the needs of the private sector". Like neighboring countries, Morocco is therefore faced with a thorny structural problem of unemployment.
Despite a downward trend in the national declared unemployment rate from 11.6% in 2002 to 8.9% in 2011, it remains particularly high among young people aged 15 to 24, with a rate of 17.6% nationally and 31.3% in urban areas in 2011. Certainly, it is acknowledged, North Africa has shown, for the last ten years, growth above the world average. However, vast sections of the population, particularly young people, have been left behind. Despite recent solid growth, job creation is not sufficient to provide jobs for all young people entering the labor market. Some countries, such as Morocco and Algeria, have achieved job creation stronger than the growth of the overall active population. In any case, in all countries in the region, the situation is much more difficult for young people. In Morocco, youth unemployment is explained by the lack of entrepreneurial spirit and the mismatch between training and employment. Also, to fill the gaps in unemployment, the strategy has focused on two pillars. First, stronger economic growth, above 6% annually, to generate sufficient job opportunities.
Second, the implementation of a series of proactive policies to facilitate salaried employment and self-employment. Developed since the early 2000s, sectoral planning aimed to boost the Moroccan economy in order to develop higher value-added economic sectors. In this vein, each sectoral initiative specifically takes into account the objective of job creation. Implicitly, employment promotion policies have focused on facilitating professional integration, matching training and employment, and promoting entrepreneurship. However, other structural measures, notably concerning labor law, will need to be put in place to encourage job creation.
Changing the preference for employment in the public sector will prove difficult as long as the private sector is not able to offer the same job security and social benefits. The measures planned to improve the labor code and the pilot project of unemployment benefit could promote this trend. The development of entrepreneurship could also be encouraged by improving the business and legal environment, establishing social security, and reducing administrative obstacles in particular. Maintaining sectoral plans should push the Moroccan economic model towards an economy capable of creating jobs for young people. It is still necessary for the education system to be able to train the human resources expected by a competitive economy.
Diversifying training offers
Since their launch in 2007, the Idmaj and Taehil programs have enabled the integration of 228,000 and 50,335 job seekers respectively. The Moukawalati program has created 3,315 businesses and around 10,000 jobs. These results remain below the expected objectives, particularly for the Moukawalati program, whose implementation has been compromised by the lack of entrepreneurial culture and the lack of support for young project leaders. Furthermore, young Moroccan graduates do not have the skills or aptitudes required by the private sector. Thus, in addition to the employment promotion strategy, the government has undertaken a profound reform of the higher education system, framed by the Emergency Program (2009-12), aimed at developing courses that better meet the needs of the private sector. This reform proposes the diversification of the training offer.
Abdelali Boukhalef.
Lematin.ma
Published August 28, 2012.
Online September 4, 2012.
Only strong growth could stimulate job creation.
Despite economic performance, Morocco faces persistent dysfunctions in the labor market. Currently, the situation presents a configuration marked by significant imbalances that manifest themselves with varying degrees of severity in all segments of this market. According to "African Economic Outlook", the country faces a structural unemployment problem. Despite the annual creation of 156,000 jobs, the average economic growth rate (over the last ten years) has proved insufficient to absorb the arrival of new graduates in the labor market. Some data on the employment situation show that unemployment particularly affects urban populations, young people entering the labor market for the first time, young graduates, women, and marginalized social groups.
This situation, which has persisted for several years and even tends to worsen, results from a combination of unfavorable factors affecting both supply and demand. To remedy this, the option has been taken for proactive public policies to facilitate the integration of the unemployed and stimulate entrepreneurship. The difficulty of unemployed young people in integrating into the job market is mainly due to the mismatch between training offered and the needs of the labor market. In fact, it is explained, most of these young graduates hardly envisage their future outside the public service. In this context, the same sources recall, "the Moroccan authorities have undertaken an ambitious reform of higher education to align the training courses offered with the needs of the private sector". Like neighboring countries, Morocco is therefore faced with a thorny structural problem of unemployment.
Despite a downward trend in the national declared unemployment rate from 11.6% in 2002 to 8.9% in 2011, it remains particularly high among young people aged 15 to 24, with a rate of 17.6% nationally and 31.3% in urban areas in 2011. Certainly, it is acknowledged, North Africa has shown, for the last ten years, growth above the world average. However, vast sections of the population, particularly young people, have been left behind. Despite recent solid growth, job creation is not sufficient to provide jobs for all young people entering the labor market. Some countries, such as Morocco and Algeria, have achieved job creation stronger than the growth of the overall active population. In any case, in all countries in the region, the situation is much more difficult for young people. In Morocco, youth unemployment is explained by the lack of entrepreneurial spirit and the mismatch between training and employment. Also, to fill the gaps in unemployment, the strategy has focused on two pillars. First, stronger economic growth, above 6% annually, to generate sufficient job opportunities.
Second, the implementation of a series of proactive policies to facilitate salaried employment and self-employment. Developed since the early 2000s, sectoral planning aimed to boost the Moroccan economy in order to develop higher value-added economic sectors. In this vein, each sectoral initiative specifically takes into account the objective of job creation. Implicitly, employment promotion policies have focused on facilitating professional integration, matching training and employment, and promoting entrepreneurship. However, other structural measures, notably concerning labor law, will need to be put in place to encourage job creation.
Changing the preference for employment in the public sector will prove difficult as long as the private sector is not able to offer the same job security and social benefits. The measures planned to improve the labor code and the pilot project of unemployment benefit could promote this trend. The development of entrepreneurship could also be encouraged by improving the business and legal environment, establishing social security, and reducing administrative obstacles in particular. Maintaining sectoral plans should push the Moroccan economic model towards an economy capable of creating jobs for young people. It is still necessary for the education system to be able to train the human resources expected by a competitive economy.
Diversifying training offers
Since their launch in 2007, the Idmaj and Taehil programs have enabled the integration of 228,000 and 50,335 job seekers respectively. The Moukawalati program has created 3,315 businesses and around 10,000 jobs. These results remain below the expected objectives, particularly for the Moukawalati program, whose implementation has been compromised by the lack of entrepreneurial culture and the lack of support for young project leaders. Furthermore, young Moroccan graduates do not have the skills or aptitudes required by the private sector. Thus, in addition to the employment promotion strategy, the government has undertaken a profound reform of the higher education system, framed by the Emergency Program (2009-12), aimed at developing courses that better meet the needs of the private sector. This reform proposes the diversification of the training offer.
Abdelali Boukhalef.
Lematin.ma
Published August 28, 2012.
Online September 4, 2012.
