The unemployment rate in Morocco reached 8.5 percent at the end of June after it was at 9.1 percent last year, Reuters reported, quoting the Kingdom’s High Commission of Planning.
HCP said that the job market was marked by a “further decline” in employment rates in cities, however, rural areas saw a rise of unemployment due to aridity.
“The number of unemployed people has declined from 1.1 million to 1.03 million following a drop of 77,000 in unemployed people,” the HCP said.
The report published on Wednesday showed that Morocco’s national economy created 7,000 job opportunities in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the much higher 117,000 in the same period in 2018.
The unemployed rate in urban areas dropped around 84,000 while it rose approximately 7,000 in rural areas. The unemployment rate in urban areas declined from 13.7 percent to 12.4 percent. , however, it rose in rural areas to 3.3 percent from 3 percent.
The Moroccan economy created during this period 210,000 jobs and lost 203, added the report.
It added that the services sector created 167,000 jobs, while industrial sectors created 43,000 jobs. The construction sector lost 27,000 jobs at the national level due to the continuous real estate crisis, while the agricultural sector lost 176,000 jobs due to aridity.
In the statement, the agency said that 132,000 jobs were gained in cities while only 125,000 were provided in rural areas.
