The national economy created 230,000 jobs between 2020 and 2021, compared to a loss of 432,000 jobs a year earlier, a creation of 165,000 in 2019 and an average annual creation of 121,000 during the three pre-pandemic years, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
“The national economy created 230,000 jobs in 2021, which corresponds to an increase of 2%, 100,000 jobs in urban areas (+2%) and 130,000 in rural areas (+3%)”, indicates the HCP which has just published an information note relating to the situation of the labor market in 2021.
By type of job, 197,000 paid jobs were created, 112,000 in urban areas and 85,000 in rural areas, said the same source, adding that unpaid employment increased by 33,000 jobs, i.e. a creation of 45,000 in rural areas and a loss of 12,000 in urban areas.
The said note also shows that the activity rate increased by 0.5 points to 45.3%. With this increase, the activity rate reached a level close to that recorded before the pandemic (45.8% in 2019). This increase is more pronounced in rural areas (+0.9 points), rising from 50% to 50.9% than in urban areas (+0.4 points), rising from 41.9% to 42.3%.
The increase in the activity rate results from the increase in the population of working age (15 years and over) of 1.4%, compared to 2020, and the increase in the active population of 3% . The activity rate for women increased by 1 point to 20.9% against 70.4% for men.
In addition, the HCP reports that the employment rate increased from 39.4% to 39.7% at the national level (35.1% in urban areas and 48.4% in rural areas). This rate fell among men (-0.2 points) and increased among women (+0.7 points). However, the employment rate remains below the level recorded before the pandemic (41.6% in 2019).
As for the total number of hours worked per week, it increased from 394 million hours in 2020 to 470 million hours in 2021, which corresponds to a 19% increase in working hours.
The volume of hours worked per week rose, in urban areas, from 237 million to 287 million hours (+21%) and, in rural areas, from 158 million to 183 million hours (+16%).
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