Official statistics released on Friday showed that the unemployment rate in Morocco rose to 13.7% in the first three months of the current year, compared to 12.9% during the same period last year, amidst the worst drought the country has experienced in over four decades.
The High Commission for Planning stated in a bulletin, obtained by Reuters, that “the labor market situation continues to suffer from the effects of the drought,” with the rural market losing 159,000 job opportunities, while 78,000 jobs were created in urban areas, resulting in a net loss of 80,000 positions.
Statistics also revealed that “the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector lost 206,000 positions.”
The number of unemployed individuals increased by 96,000 between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, with 59,000 in urban areas and 38,000 in rural areas, reaching a total of 1.645 million people nationwide.
The unemployment rate rose from 17.1% to 17.6% in urban areas, an increase of 0.5%, and from 5.7% to 6.8% in rural areas, an increase of 1.1%.
Unemployment among individuals aged 15 to 24 reached 35.9%, among certificate holders it reached 20.3%, and among women, it reached about 20%.
