Morocco launches $1.4bn project to combat unemployment

The Moroccan government yesterday launched a 14 billion dinar [$1.4 billion] project to combat unemployment in the country, a government spokesman has said.

Mustafa Baitas told reporters following a cabinet session in Rabat that Minister of Economic Inclusiveness, Younes Sekkouri, presented the plan to the cabinet and it aims “to address emerging challenges in the labour market, in relation to climate change that has become an integral issue”.

Baitas said the government drafted the plan following extensive and participatory consultations with the productive and social sectors and various actors, especially employers through the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises.

He explained that the plan includes several nexuses such as encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to provide job opportunities, as well as restructuring and expanding active employment programmes to include non-degree holders through a new government approach targeting all job seekers.

On 3 February, the High Commission for Planning announced a slight increase in the unemployment rate in Morocco which stood at 13.3 per cent in 2024, compared to 13 per cent in the previous year.

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