The number of young people who neither study nor work grows in Morocco despite the good macro data

One and a half million young Moroccans, one in four aged between 15 and 24, neither study nor work. If the range is extended to 35 years, the number of ninis —as this group is known— skyrockets to 4.3 million, one in three, in a country of 37 million inhabitants. The publication of these figures has coincided with the presentation before Parliament of a developmental balance of the mid-term of the Government of Prime Minister Aziz Ajanuch. The warning about the gap in employment and youth training that threatens the future of the country, contained in a report by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, was endorsed in May by the High Commissioner of the Plan, equivalent to the National Institute of Statistics, with an official rate unemployment of 13.7%, breaking the records of the last two decades.

While the Chief of Staff has congratulated himself in Parliament for achievements “that have exceeded all expectations”, the left-wing and Islamist opposition has accused the center-right government coalition of “denying the evidence of official data” on employment, particularly among the youngest. Despite the earthquake registered last September in the Atlas, which caused nearly 3,000 deaths, the Maghreb country recovered the path of growth in 2023, with a GDP increase rate of 3.2% compared to 1.3% in 2022 .

To counteract the negative trend in the Moroccan labor market, which is producing net job losses for the first time in the 25-year reign of Mohamed VI, the Government relies on the promotion of infrastructure investment plans for the 2030 Soccer World Cup. , which Morocco co-organizes together with Spain and Portugal, to generate jobs. During his visit last February to Rabat, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, highlighted the opportunities that the construction projects of highways, airports and high-speed railway lines represent for Spanish companies for an expected amount of 45 billion euros. .

The NEET phenomenon in Morocco is primarily female, since it affects three quarters of young women. Dropping out of school and the lack of job opportunities are also burdened by the heavy family burdens they assume in early marriages. Current legislation, pending the announced reform of the Mudawana or Family Code, prohibits marriage with minors under 18 years of age, but allows judges to approve that a girl can marry an adult man. In 2023, 14,197 requests were submitted for judicial authorization to marry a minor in Morocco. In 2022 there were 20,097. More than two-thirds of the applications were approved, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Effects of discouragement

Only 20% of Moroccan women of working age aspire to join the labor market. The rest declared themselves willing to continue taking care of their homes and had no intention of looking for a job, according to data from the High Commissioner of the Plan. “The inability of public powers to address the problem of NEETs, or at least reverse the insufficiency of integration policies for this vulnerable sector, threatens cohesion and social stability and fuels poverty and social inequality,” he analyzes in its report by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. “These discouraged young people are fertile ground for crime and extremism,” warns the official body.

At the beginning of the legislature, in 2021, the Government committed to creating one million jobs and raising the female participation rate in the labor market to 30% at the end of its five years in office, but economic growth is not enough for now the pace required to generate a sufficient number of jobs. With 77.3% of the active population in the informal economy, according to the World Bank, the absence of social coverage further aggravates the situation.

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