Unemployed Moroccan graduates demand public sector jobs

15/11/2007

Possessing diplomas but disillusioned by private sector job options, unemployed Moroccan graduates staged a protest at Istiqlal party offices on Monday.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 15/11/07

[Sarah Touahri] Unemployed graduates demand unconditional recruitment into the public sector

Jobless Moroccan graduates blocked the entrance to Istiqlal party offices in Rabat on Monday (November 12th) to demand work in the public sector.

Members of three different protest groups representing the graduates argued that since the state trained them, it also has a duty to provide them with professional work commensurate with their level of education.

Protestors said the location of the sit-in – outside the offices of Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi's Istiqlal Party – was chosen after El Fassi vowed to provide 16,000 public sector jobs in 2008.

The unemployed graduates said an agreement signed with the previous government in August has not yet been implemented. Under the agreement, graduates are to receive priority in taking recruitment examinations to join the civil service, and a special commission is to be formed to oversee the process and inform candidates of their priority status.

Protestors complained that the commission has not been formed, and demanded the abolition of written tests as a condition of employment in state posts. "We want the written tests to be abolished, because the law does not mention them. This strategy allows only those who are connected with officials to get into the available posts," said Ahmed Gandou, a member of the Hiwar protest group. He said the sit-in was a reaction to a recent education ministry decision to recruit 1,000 unemployed white-collar workers, but only once they have taken written and oral tests.

According to the government, the time when all unemployed graduates could be recruited into the civil service is past. The government said the August agreement is clear. It advocates a preferential approach to facilitate unemployed graduates’ access to the civil service by giving them priority in taking the competitive recruitment examinations. It also provides for the re-training of approximately 1,000 unemployed degree-holders to facilitate their integration into the most promising sectors of the national economy.

In its statement before parliament, the new government promised it would create some 250,000 jobs per year, based on the rising rate of growth. The protestors, however, have turned their backs on the private sector in which they have no confidence. They are threatening further sit-ins until their demands are met and they are recruited unconditionally into the public sector.