Morocco wants to improve youth employability.

• "It's everyone's business", according to the minister in charge.
• About thirty countries share their experience with the Kingdom.
• Soon a job observatory.

"200 million unemployed people worldwide. Unemployment is a phenomenon that affects not only developing countries, but also developed states." Abdelouahed Souhail's statement at the interregional conference held in Fes on October 1 and 2 left no one indifferent. The Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, who, it must be said, has not yet found the magic recipe to absorb unemployment, says that "employment is everyone's business". According to him, "the establishment of the future employment observatory will give a real vision on the territories of the promising sectors.

. In the meantime, it is necessary to adapt training to the needs of the labor market, create new sectors such as aeronautics, and encourage investment." "These steps do not all fall under the sole responsibility of the Employment department," acknowledges the minister in charge. The same can be said of Hafid Kamal, director general of Anapec, for whom the employability of young people can be boosted through new niches such as environmental social work or income-generating activities. Government officials all agree that employment cannot be ensured without the genius of creative skills. Therefore, the involvement of the private sector is essential. Gone are the days of welfare when young people settle in a municipality to do nothing and receive an unearned salary at the end of each month. Knowing that unemployment affects between 9 and 11% of young Moroccans. Merit, usefulness and the added value that each job created in the public and private sectors can bring are now the selection criteria in any recruitment operation in Morocco and elsewhere, explain the participants in the Fes forum. For them, "job seekers should not be left behind either. But they must be supervised, and even guided towards promising sectors during their studies." In this respect, local actors are also called upon to reflect on the roles to be played in promoting employment, the various local employment measures, the financing of these measures and the local governance and management structures of the local employment scheme. These are the objectives of the Fes interregional workshop. Initiated under the theme of "Governance and territorialization of employment promotion", the event is jointly organized by the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (Anapec) and the World Association of Public Employment Services (Amsep). This association brings together six international employment organizations. Indeed, some 200 experts from about thirty countries affiliated with these organizations took part. For Lenka Kint, executive secretary of Amsep, as for Mohamed Charafeddine, vice-president of this NGO, "the exchange of successful experiences was one of the main objectives of the Fes meeting." In fact, experience has shown that the performance of Public Employment Services (PES) depends on the effectiveness of the action undertaken by local agencies. These PES cannot fully play their role without a strong capacity for integration into their socio-economic environment and without interaction with local actors. To this end, Anapec has made the consolidation of local partnerships and support for local and regional projects a major axis of its action program. "Through these meetings, our members discuss among themselves and export their expertise in terms of integration. We have also seen that France, for example, has supported Morocco to improve the employability of young people, which in turn has been able to instill its experience in sub-Saharan countries with the same objective," explains Kint. This being the case, unemployment figures in Africa are very alarming. In Algeria, for example, the unemployment rate among young people aged 16-24 has reached 22.4%. That of higher education graduates has increased from 21.4% in 2010 to 16.1%. In urban areas, it is estimated at 10.6%, while in rural areas it is estimated at 8.7%. If we take all of Africa, between 2000 and 2008, despite high economic growth rates (maintained at 7%) and considered among the most successful worldwide, and despite better-trained young people, the continent created only 16 million jobs for its young people aged 15 to 24. Today, young people represent 60% of the continent's unemployed, meaning 40 million individuals are looking for a job, mostly women who have definitively given up. This situation seems all the more unacceptable given that Africa has an impressive potential of talented and creative youth. This could be one of the topics to be discussed at the next Amsep seminar to be held in Tunisia in a few months.

Youness SAAD ALAMI.

Leconomiste.com

Published on October 3, 2012.

Posted online on November 1, 2012.