Recent employment data released by High Commission for Planning points to a marked acceleration in job creation in Morocco during 2025. On paper, the numbers suggest a labor market gaining momentum after a weak 2024. In practice, the underlying picture is more complex, revealing a recovery that is uneven across geography, gender, age, and job quality.
The headline figure, nearly 200,000 net jobs created in a single year, reflects a sharp improvement in aggregate labor demand. This rebound is largely concentrated in urban areas and in paid employment, indicating a continued structural shift away from informal and unpaid work, particularly in agriculture. From a macroeconomic standpoint, this transition aligns with Morocco’s longer-term movement toward a more urban, service-oriented economy.
However, the urban bias of job creation remains pronounced. Cities accounted for virtually all net employment gains, while rural areas experienced continued job losses. This pattern reinforces a widening rural-urban divide and underscores the limited capacity of non-agricultural activities to absorb labor outside major urban centers. As agriculture continues to shed jobs due to climate stress, productivity gains, and consolidation, rural employment alternatives remain insufficiently developed.
Sectorally, services once again acted as the primary engine of employment growth, supported by finance, real estate, business services, and public-facing social services. Construction also registered strong gains, reflecting sustained investment in housing and infrastructure. Industry contributed positively, though at a more moderate scale. Agriculture stood apart as the only major sector in decline, continuing a trend that carries significant social consequences given the sector’s role as a primary employer in rural Morocco.
While the national unemployment rate edged lower, according to government data, the composition of unemployment reveals deeper vulnerabilities. Youth unemployment increased further, leaving more than one-third of economically active young people without work. This indicates that recent job creation has done little to improve entry into the labor market for first-time job seekers, particularly those transitioning out of education. The persistence of such high youth unemployment continues to fuel outward migration pressures and erodes confidence in domestic economic opportunity.
Gender disparities also widened. Female unemployment rose even as male unemployment declined, highlighting structural barriers that economic growth alone is not resolving. Sectoral concentration, hiring practices, care responsibilities, and informality all appear to be limiting women’s access to new employment opportunities, even in expanding urban sectors.
Beyond unemployment rates, the quality of labor market attachment is deteriorating for many workers. Long-term unemployment increased, with a growing share of job seekers out of work for more than a year. The average duration of job search now stretches close to three years, and a large proportion of the unemployed have never held a job. This points to systemic difficulties in matching skills to available positions and in integrating new entrants into the workforce.
Underemployment presents another structural concern. A rising share of employed workers report insufficient hours or jobs that do not match their qualifications. This is especially pronounced in construction, a sector that is simultaneously creating jobs and exhibiting high labor precarity. The result is employment growth that does not consistently translate into income stability or upward mobility.
Regional disparities further complicate the picture. Economic activity and unemployment remain heavily concentrated in a small number of regions, while peripheral and southern areas continue to experience significantly higher joblessness. These imbalances reinforce internal migration and place additional strain on urban labor markets and public services.
Finally, the data highlights persistent weaknesses in social protection and formalization. A minority of workers benefit from employment-linked health coverage, and formal contracts remain far from universal, particularly in agriculture. This limits the social impact of job creation and leaves many workers exposed to economic shocks.
All in all, the 2025 employment figures describe a labor market that is expanding but not yet inclusive. Morocco is creating more jobs, and more of those jobs are paid and urban. Yet young people, women, rural workers, and long-term job seekers remain largely excluded from the gains.
