Skouri: Professional Training and Combating Dropout Are Key to Tackling Unemployment in Morocco
The Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment, and Skills, Younes Skouri, affirmed that combating school dropout and expanding the vocational training system are two essential pillars for enhancing young people’s access to the job market, thus reducing unemployment.
During his presentation to the Social Sectors Committee in the House of Representatives, Skouri explained that increasing the capacity of "second chance" schools represents a strategic step to address early school dropout by enabling youth to complete their educational paths or engage in vocational training, thereby increasing their employability.
The minister noted that the government aims to raise the number of beneficiaries of vocational training from 31,000 to approximately 100,000 annually by the end of this year, while increasing the financial support allocated to them to 5,000 dirhams and reducing the duration of training programs to suit the social conditions of the targeted groups. He also called for strengthening partnerships between businesses and the training system to qualify the workforce according to market needs.
In the same context, Skouri emphasized the need to restructure the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANAPEC) to strengthen its role in supporting job seekers, especially those without degrees, through enhancing institutional partnership models with over 50,000 businesses and establishing an integrated employment pathway within the agency’s missions.
The minister highlighted the importance of targeting unemployed individuals who are not benefitting from training and vocational programs, pointing to the role of the "Warch" program in this area, especially its Long-Term Contracts component under the "Warch for Sustainable Integration" initiative, which has shown promising results in creating permanent job opportunities within small and medium-sized enterprises.
Skouri also called for a revision of the Labour Code, arguing that it contains provisions that are unimplementable, particularly concerning the protection of vulnerable categories, such as security guards and workers in the digital economy (delivery platforms and remote work). He stressed the need for this revision to encompass various new work modalities to ensure a balance between economic growth requirements and workers’ rights.
Committee members expressed concerns over the worsening unemployment phenomena, attributing it to multiple intersecting factors, most notably the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, production chain disruptions, job losses, rising imported inflation, and the ongoing drought for the sixth consecutive year, given the importance of agriculture as a primary source of employment.
They called for a comprehensive approach to integrate the informal sector into the economy and combat tax evasion within the formal sector, emphasizing the importance of supporting small businesses and enhancing their capacity to create job opportunities, as well as increasing financial positions in the public sector.
