Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP), the national statistics agency, published the first results of its new labor force survey, highlighting low workforce participation, stark gender disparities and persistent youth unemployment under a methodology aligned with International Labor Organization standards.
The new framework introduces stricter definitions that prevent comparisons with earlier data.
Employment is now limited to work performed for pay or profit, while unemployment excludes individuals who are available but not actively seeking jobs.
Out of 27.8 million people of working age, the labor force totals 11.6 million, corresponding to a participation rate of 41.8%.
The gender gap remains pronounced, with 66.4% of men active compared to just 17.5% of women. Women make up only 21% of the labour force but represent 71.2% of those outside it. Nearly two-thirds of the active population live in urban areas.
A total of 10.36 million people are in employment, resulting in an employment rate of 37.3%, higher in rural areas (40.7%) than in cities (35.5%). Services dominate with 49.1% of jobs (5.08 million), followed by agriculture at 24.5% (2.54 million), industry at 13.6% and construction at 12.7%.
Urban employment is heavily service-based (64.3%), while agriculture accounts for 55.2% of rural jobs.
Strict unemployment stands at 1.25 million people, or 10.8% nationally, rising to 13.5% in urban areas versus 6.1% in rural regions. Women face a higher rate (16.1%) than men (9.4%), while youth unemployment reaches 29.2% among those aged 15–24.
When Unemployment is combined with time-related underemployment, the unemployment rate surges to 16.6%
