Morocco’s main economic challenge is no longer limited to accelerating growth but lies increasingly in its ability to create enough jobs for a workforce that is becoming more qualified every year.
That was the message delivered by Industry and Trade Minister Ryad Mezzour at the launch of the integrated “PACTE TPME, Bank of Africa & Maroc PME” initiative, where he said strengthening very small, small and medium-sized enterprises (VSMEs and SMEs) had become both an economic and a social priority.
“Our country is undergoing profound transformation. It has achieved success in several areas, but it still lacks one vital success: upgrading and strengthening our economic fabric so that we can offer a dignified life to our young citizens,” Mezzour said.
He described the challenge as “an immense urgency,” arguing that young people’s expectations now exceed the labour market’s current capacity.
The minister’s remarks reflect broader trends in Morocco’s economy. While industrial diversification, export growth and the country’s increasing attractiveness have strengthened several productive sectors, those gains have yet to translate into enough jobs to match the growing number of graduates entering the labour market.
Mezzour illustrated the scale of the challenge with new figures. Every year, around 180,000 university graduates and 330,000 vocational training graduates join the labour market. Together, they account for roughly 510,000 newly qualified jobseekers annually.
By comparison, Morocco creates around 250,000 net jobs in years of favourable economic conditions.
“We therefore face a significant imbalance. More than 510,000 qualified young people enter the labour market every year, while our job creation capacity remains insufficient. We are short of nearly 100,000 jobs annually,” he said.
“Our economy must create 40% to 50% more jobs, but also better-quality jobs,” he said, noting that Morocco’s increasingly educated youth have fundamentally changed expectations of the labour market.
As education levels rise, young graduates are seeking stronger career prospects, better pay and higher value-added occupations, even as some traditional sectors struggle to recruit.
The minister pointed to what he described as a growing paradox in the labour market. Several sectors are now facing labour shortages even as unemployment remains high among young graduates.
“We sometimes have crops left unharvested because there are no workers. Construction faces the same problem. Tourism does too. So does the industrial wiring sector,” he said.
According to Mezzour, the issue is less a shortage of workers than a shift in professional aspirations, with young people increasingly looking for jobs that offer greater stability, income and career development.
The challenge, he said, is therefore twofold: increasing the number of jobs created while transforming Morocco’s productive base so it can absorb a more highly qualified workforce.
Small businesses at the centre of the strategy
It is against this backdrop that the TPME Pact was launched. By improving access to financing, business support and development programmes, the initiative aims to accelerate the growth of small businesses, which make up the vast majority of Morocco’s economic fabric.
Its objective goes beyond supporting entrepreneurship. It seeks to make VSMEs and SMEs the country’s main engine of formal job creation and a driving force behind the upgrading of Morocco’s economy.
That ambition is also reflected in the roadmap of Maroc PME. Its Director General, Anouar Alaoui Ismaili, announced that the agency aims to support 4,000 VSMEs and SMEs by 2030—around 800 companies a year—with the goal of creating or preserving 54,000 jobs.
Although that target addresses only part of the labour market’s annual needs, it illustrates the government’s intention to strengthen the sector that generates the largest share of employment in most advanced economies.
Mezzour cautioned, however, that the strategy is unfolding in an increasingly complex international environment.
He warned that the combined effects of technological change and the return of protectionist policies were creating new challenges for the labour market.
According to the minister, artificial intelligence is gradually reducing demand for junior profiles at the very moment Morocco is experiencing a significant demographic dividend.
“We therefore face a double challenge: successfully managing our demographic transition while absorbing a major technological shock,” he said.
