"Employment remains a complicated issue and requires long-term work. Job creation in Morocco depends on the persistence to diversify the economy and increase competitiveness," said Lahlimi during a webinar to present the report on the "employment landscape in Morocco", prepared by the High Commission for Planning (HCP) and the World Bank (WB).
He noted, in this sense, that the issue of employment is of great importance, as it is a key element of growth and also affects the morale of the population, adding that the HCP will launch a satellite account of employment to measure productivity by industry, by economic agent, by gender and by qualification.
For his part, the country director for the Maghreb and Malta at the World Bank, Jesko Hentschel, referred to to the centrality of employment for Morocco, highlighting the new development model (NMD) which has given a prominent place to this issue.
Regarding the dynamics of the Moroccan labor market during the last 10 years, Henstchel stressed that the Moroccan economic fabric suffers from problems, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have difficulty in achieving growth and consequently create jobs.
Moreover, he indicated that the inclusion of young people is today the biggest problem of the Moroccan labor market, noting that this category is the most affected by unemployment.
Women's labor force participation is also a weak link in the Moroccan labor market, Henstchel noted, adding that Moroccan women have access to quality education but not all of them are able to enter the labor market.
A result of the first phase of a joint Morocco-World Bank employment study program, this report provides an employment diagnostic that analyzes data primarily from labor force surveys and uses new analytical methods to identify key labor market trends.