Moroccan government seeks to promote employment

2007-12-27

This week's High Council on Employment provided an opportunity for Moroccan employers, labour leaders and government officials to assess the progress of three distinct job-creation programmes.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat - 27/12/07

[Sarah Touahri] The creation of training courses is a key component to the government's programmes to tackle unemployment.

As part of its campaign pledge to create 200,000 new jobs by the end of 2008, the new Moroccan government organised the first meeting of the High Council for the Promotion of Employment on December 24th-25th. The Council is an institutional framework for dialogue between the government, employers and trade unions.

Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi said dialogue between the government, business partners, employers and labour is the best way to implement effective strategies for economic and social development. The government’s goal, he said, is to "bring national unemployment down to 7% by 2012." Measures include "promoting investment, employ[ing] young people and improving the business environment", he said.

The meeting provided an opportunity to assess the state of the job market and evaluate three separate plans for creating the new jobs, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training Jamal Ghmani explained.

Through the "Taahil" initiative, which is intended to adapt training to the needs of the job market, 12,000 new opportunities have been identified. Following agreements between the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANAPEC) and the Office for Vocational Training and the Promotion of Employment, nearly 17,000 graduates are expected to be trained by 2009.

The "Idmaj" programme surpassed expectations by finding positions for nearly 73,000 jobseekers by the end of December 2007. The plan calls for helping a total of 105,000 jobseekers over the next three years.

Under the third plan, or "Moukawalati", over 9,560 people have been selected from 14,000 applicants and 2,693 employment-generating projects have been submitted to banks for funding. Moroccan Professional Banking Group chief El Hadi Chaibanou says that his organisation intends to make the procedures for accessing credit under Moukawalati easier by improving communication and providing support during the application process.

Ghmani emphasized that for the three schemes to succeed, procedures need to be clarified and entrepreneurial spirit among young graduates must be encouraged.

Moreover, as part of any initiatives, it is essential for the Labour Code to be enforced and observed, trade unionist Abdelkarim Al Aziz of the Democratic Labour Confederation noted. The High Council recommended establishing complementary incentives to employ graduates who have been seeking jobs for a long period, taking their length of unemployment into account. It also advocated close monitoring of the Idmaj and Taahil schemes and called on the State to pay some or all of the welfare contributions for people benefiting from these programmes.

The Council also resolved to acquire the necessary logistical means to study employment opportunities in the private, public and semi-public sectors.