Handicraft sector in Morocco employs two million persons

Some two million Moroccans work in handicraft, representing 20 percent of the active population in the country, the handicraft department said.

Handicraft contributed US$ 5.77 billion (67 billion dirhams) to Morocco's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2000, i.e. 19 percent. The sector's contribution to the GDP in 2000 was higher than that of agriculture -- a backbone of the Moroccan economy employing half of a 10-million workforce--, which contributed only 16 percent to the GDP in the same year.

Morocco's handicraft exports stood at US$ 52.58 million (610 million dirhams) in 1999. Foreign tourists paid US$ 379.31 million (4.4 billion dirhams) to buy Moroccan handicraft items, putting the sector's contribution to tourism receipts at 23 percent.