Employment problem a priority for Morocco, king says
King Hassan II of Morocco described the settlement of the unemployment problem as the second priority in Morocco after the kingdom's territorial integrity.
The king, who opened on Saturday a national colloquy on employment, stressed that addressing the unemployment problem requires a "global social project" involving all the country's potentials. After he recalled that during the last ten years, Morocco created around 180,000 jobs annually and sustained an average economic growth rate of 3.2 percent, the king said more efforts are needed to meet employment needs. 255,000 jobs should be created annually, the king said.
Talking to over 700 participants representing the government, political parties, employers' associations and trade unions, the king put a special emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises, self-employment and prospects offered by the sector of services, trade and occupations in new information technologies.
King Hassan II then turned to the struggle against illiteracy, stressing Morocco should reduce the illiteracy rate by half in the coming 10 years.
He added that the training-integration program, devised recently, will increase the recruitment of young-graduates as shown by the promising statistics of the last eleven months.
King Hassan II who stressed the importance of reforming the education system to improve the competitiveness of the Moroccan economy, expressed hope that the colloquy will reach recommendations for realistic actions supported by follow-up implements.
The national employment strategy sends a strong signal of the political will of the Moroccan state to solve the unemployment issue, while respecting a rigorous management of public finances. According to a document of the ministry of employment and vocational training, the strategy will consist of collecting considerable funds, mobilize all public institutions, social partners and non-governmental organizations in the endeavor to increase job creation.
The strategy would promote the creation of new enterprises, preserve jobs by developing adaptation capacities to the job market and to economic mutations and address structural problems of employment by developing human capital. It also proposes to support the creation of jobs in the private sectors and associations.
For Moroccan minister of social development, solidarity, employment and vocational training, Khalid Alioua, the problem of unemployment in Morocco is mainly due to the decrease of investments, the weakness of projects' profitability, the inadequacy between supply and demand in the job market and the limited activities of intermediation bodies. The minister, who is also the spokesman of the government, recommended to participants in the first colloquy a strategy combining an economic policy geared to speeding growth and the encouragement of investments.
Regarding unemployment among young graduates which stands for 33 % of all unemployed people, the spokesman said the situation worsened during the implementation of the structural adjustment programs which resulted in the reduction of job creation in the private sector and in public administrations which soaked, alone, two thirds of graduates.
Alioua stressed the need to set forth efficient and feasible measures to reduce unemployment of graduates which went up from 2% in 1985 to 27 % in 1997.
He went on that the "training-integration" program is a main axis of this set of measures, in addition to the strategy of self-employment to which the government allotted 300 million DH ($ 32.6 million).