Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.5% in the Fourth Quarter of 2011
3 April 2012
Read by 1490 persons
The unemployment rate in Morocco fell by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year to reach 8.5% in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to data from Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), published in its latest monetary policy report.
This decrease is explained by the fall in urban unemployment from 13.7% to 13% and rural unemployment from 4.2% to 3.4%, according to the same sources, which add that the unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24 was 18.3%, marking a decrease of 0.5 percentage points, the lowest rate compared to other age groups. As for the active population, it increased by 2% in both urban and rural areas, reaching 11.63 million people. This change resulted in a slight increase in the activity rate of 0.1 percentage points to 49.2%, explains BAM in its report.
The employed part of this population increased by 2.8% reaching 10.64 million individuals in the fourth quarter of 2011. Consequently, the employment rate improved by 0.5 percentage points to 45.1%, showing almost no change in urban areas and a 1 percentage point increase in rural areas. In this context, the job market saw the net creation of 189,000 paid jobs and 100,000 unpaid jobs, a total of 289,000 jobs, 51% of which were in urban areas. Sectorally, the services sector and the construction sector remain the main job providers during the same period, with a net creation of 97,000 and 62,000 respectively, while the industrial sector again saw a job loss of 33,000 jobs after a temporary increase of 21,000 jobs in the third quarter of 2011, bringing job losses for the whole year 2011 to 31,000 jobs.
Lematin.ma
Published March 30, 2012.
Posted online April 3, 2012.
This decrease is explained by the fall in urban unemployment from 13.7% to 13% and rural unemployment from 4.2% to 3.4%, according to the same sources, which add that the unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24 was 18.3%, marking a decrease of 0.5 percentage points, the lowest rate compared to other age groups. As for the active population, it increased by 2% in both urban and rural areas, reaching 11.63 million people. This change resulted in a slight increase in the activity rate of 0.1 percentage points to 49.2%, explains BAM in its report.
The employed part of this population increased by 2.8% reaching 10.64 million individuals in the fourth quarter of 2011. Consequently, the employment rate improved by 0.5 percentage points to 45.1%, showing almost no change in urban areas and a 1 percentage point increase in rural areas. In this context, the job market saw the net creation of 189,000 paid jobs and 100,000 unpaid jobs, a total of 289,000 jobs, 51% of which were in urban areas. Sectorally, the services sector and the construction sector remain the main job providers during the same period, with a net creation of 97,000 and 62,000 respectively, while the industrial sector again saw a job loss of 33,000 jobs after a temporary increase of 21,000 jobs in the third quarter of 2011, bringing job losses for the whole year 2011 to 31,000 jobs.
Lematin.ma
Published March 30, 2012.
Posted online April 3, 2012.
