The labor market situation in 2022 saw a relative improvement in the unemployment rate. The service sectors have for their part contributed to the creation of 164,000 jobs, indicates the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
In 2022, the service sector enabled the creation of 164,000 jobs at the national level, including 137,000 in urban areas and 28,000 in rural areas, recording an increase of 3% compared to 2021, while five regions of the Kingdom concentrate 72.6% of all working people aged 15 and over, reveals the HCP in an information note relating to the situation of the labor market in 2022.
Decline in activity and employment rates
According to the note, the activity rate fell, between 2021 and 2022, by 0.8 points to 44.3%, specifying that this is the result of the increase in older workers aged 15 and over by 1.4% and the decrease in the active population by 1%. It should be noted that the reduction concerns in particular the rural environment, going from 50.9% to 49.1%, and that in the urban environment, which went from 42.3% to 41.9%.
Furthermore, the employment rate fell from 39.7% to 39.1% at the national level, i.e. an increase of 0.2 points in urban areas, rising from 35.1% to 35.3%, and a drop of 1.9 points in rural areas, from 48.4% to 46.5%. This rate fell by one point for women and by 0.3 point for men.
Loss of employment, exclusively in rural areas
The HCP points out that the national economy lost 24,000 jobs in 2022, due to the creation of 150,000 jobs in urban areas and a loss of 174,000 in rural areas.
By type of employment, 136,000 paid employment positions were created, resulting from the creation of 161,000 positions in urban areas and a loss of 25,000 in rural areas. As for unpaid employment, it experienced a decline of 160,000 jobs, mainly due to the decline of this type of employment in rural areas by 150,000 jobs.
Sectoral job creation
In 2022, the “services” sector created 164,000 jobs at the national level, distributed between 137,000 in urban areas and 28,000 in rural areas, recording a 3% increase in employment in this sector compared to 2021. Job creation in this sector comes mainly from the accommodation and catering branch with 46,000 jobs, trade with 36,000, administrative and support service activities with 34,000 and transportation and warehousing with 25,000.
With regard to industry, including handicrafts, the sector has been able to create 28,000 jobs, including 16,000 in urban areas and 12,000 in rural areas. These jobs created mainly come from craft activities (26,000 jobs).
The sector of agriculture, forestry and fishing, for its part, lost 215,000 jobs at the national level, including 205,000 in rural areas and 10,000 in urban areas, says the HCP.
Finally, the construction sector lost 1,000 jobs, the result of the creation of 8,000 jobs in urban areas and a loss of 9,000 in rural areas.
By job type, the “services” sector created 167,000 paid jobs and lost 3,000 unpaid jobs; that of “Industry, including crafts, created 29,000 paid jobs and lost 1,000 unpaid jobs.
Drop in unemployment
Between 2021 and 2022, the number of unemployed fell by 66,000 people, falling from 1,508,000 to 1,442,000 unemployed, which corresponds to a drop of 4%. This decline follows a decrease of 70,000 unemployed in urban areas and an increase of 4,000 in rural areas.
The unemployment rate thus fell from 12.3% to 11.8%. It went from 5.0% to 5.2% in rural areas and from 16.9% to 15.8% in urban areas. According to the diploma, the unemployment rate recorded a fall of one point among the graduates, going from 19.6% to 18.6%, and of 0.4 point among the people without a diploma, going from 4 .6% to 4.2%.
By age, the unemployment rate increased by 0.9 points among young people aged 15 to 24, from 31.8% to 32.7%, and fell among the other age categories. It went from 19.6% to 19.2% for people aged 25 to 34, from 7% to 6.4% for those aged 35 to 44 and from 3.8% to 3.3% for those aged 45 and over.
Regional labor market situation
In 2022, 5 regions hosted 72.6% of all working people aged 15 and over. The Casablanca-Settat region leads with 22.2%, followed by Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (13.7%), Marrakech-Safi (13.1%), Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima (12% ) and Fez-Meknes (11.6%).
Three regions have activity rates above the national average (44.3%). These are the regions of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima with a rate of 50.1%, Casablanca-Settat with 46.7% and Marrakech-Safi (45.0%). On the other hand, the lowest rates are recorded in the regions of Souss-Massa (38.3%), Drâa-Tafilalet (41.0%) and Oriental (42.0%).
In addition, 5 regions concentrate 71.4% of the unemployed at the national level. The Casablanca-Settat region comes first with 25.9%, followed by Fez-Meknes (13.2%), Rabat-Salé-Kenitra (12.7%), Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (9 .8%) and Oriental (9.8%).
The highest unemployment rates are observed in the 3 southern regions (20.1%) and in the Eastern region (17.4%). In addition, two other regions exceed the national average by 11.8%, namely Casablanca-Settat (13.8%) and Fez-Meknes (13.5%).
However, the regions of Marrakech-Safi, Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma and Drâa-Tafilalet recorded the lowest rates, respectively 6.9%, 9.7% and 9.7%.