MEDI1TV Afrique : Emploi au Maroc : Le bilan de l’année 2024 avec Omar Tijani - 23/12/2024
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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, hello and welcome to Focus Eco.
00:11In 2024, the unemployment rate rose to more than 21% according to the latest figures published by the HCP.
00:19Employment creation is now a major issue.
00:23Employment in Morocco, what are we talking about in this retrospective of employment that we are doing for the year 2024?
00:30With you, Mr. Omar Tijani, you are a professor of economics at the Faculty of Architecture.
00:34It is a pleasure to welcome you.
00:36It's a pleasure to be here. Hello to you, Madam Khamnichi and to your viewers.
00:40Thank you for the invitation.
00:41A pleasure to welcome you.
00:43So we're going to start without hesitation before talking about the report.
00:47But we're going to talk about this figure, which is 21.3% of the unemployment rate announced by the HCP.
00:55Was it an expected figure? Are we in a situation today that has become critical?
01:02Do we have to sound the alarm?
01:07Yes, we tend to go towards mass unemployment, which is critical of the social situation of the labor market in Morocco.
01:18We are used to consulting the statistics of the HCP, which are rather periodic, every quarter, which are less dramatic than that.
01:28Recently, we have the figure of 21%, which in fact has to bring us together as economic and social actors,
01:36government and economic actors, companies, etc., to think about possible solutions.
01:41How do you explain this increase in unemployment?
01:45And in the end, if we had to do the report this year when we talk about employment, is it a pessimistic report?
01:52Yes, the causes are multiple.
01:55I can qualify that, I can distinguish that in causes, if you will, exogenous or objective,
02:03linked essentially to the changes in the labor market.
02:06Recently, after Covid, the labor market has seen profound changes.
02:12Young people are not equipped, let's say, are not ready to face these changes,
02:20especially with the Moroccan educational system.
02:23Jobs that appear, others that disappear.
02:25The labor market requires agility, problem-solving, autonomy,
02:31which the Moroccan educational system does not allow, does not give to young people.
02:38So the changes in the labor market, on the one hand,
02:41also the drought that hit the kingdom during the last two years,
02:46which has caused us to lose jobs in the rural world.
02:51Concerning the causes, let's say, subjective or endogenous, linked to the actions of the government,
02:58first of all, the economic growth that has found difficulties to take place
03:08because of the economy that is actually closed.
03:12The liberalization of the labor market is on the brink, in fact.
03:16We have an economy that is rather, that has slum niches.
03:21This is a handicap for economic growth.
03:24Second, the low rate of industrialization in Morocco,
03:29with the various programs, the Industrial Acceleration Programme 2014-2020,
03:35its objectives of increasing the industrial GDP by 25%,
03:39it has not been successful.
03:43And also, finally, the fiscal pressure,
03:47with the social issues of social coverage and the World Cup organization,
03:52the state's recipes set objectives.
03:56And we put pressure on companies for that.
03:59And that breaks employment, in fact.
04:01– Multiple reasons, in any case, that you have just mentioned,
04:05but there are also multiple external shocks,
04:08an inflation that has been imported, wars,
04:10so an international conjuncture that logically impacts the national economy.
04:16And yet, the Moroccan economy has always shown to be more or less resilient.
04:19Growth is positive.
04:21But in terms of unemployment, it poses a problem.
04:24Even if growth is positive, in terms of employment,
04:27we do not create enough.
04:29– Yes, growth is always positive.
04:31We make more GDP each year than last year.
04:36Now, to reconcile the economic and the social is not easy.
04:41It is a subtle mixture, delicate to find,
04:46between the economic logic and the social logic, in fact.
04:50In my opinion, it is necessary that all the actors
04:55intervening in the Moroccan economy,
05:00the government and the economic actors,
05:03come together and put themselves in place.
05:05And also, the levers on the labor market,
05:07universities, etc., question themselves
05:10to find solutions, common solutions.
05:14Economic growth is linked to the rates
05:18that we know each year, between 3% and 4%.
05:22But the existence of income niches in the economy
05:27allows us not to take advantage of this economic growth.
05:31– When you talk about income niches, can you go further?
05:35– Yes.
05:36If you look at the new development model in Morocco,
05:47the Moroccan economy has experienced a weak liberalization.
05:55The process of liberalization, although it is necessary,
05:59has a hard time settling.
06:01Some sectors reason as if we have a pie.
06:08The more actors and competitors we have,
06:11the less we will have each.
06:13However, the economy does not work like that.
06:15The economic state of mind sees that the more we are in a sector,
06:21we will produce two pies.
06:24– The more competitive we are, the more competitive we are.
06:26– Exactly, the more competitive we are,
06:27we will produce two pies, to return to the example.
06:31I am not saying that all sectors are full.
06:37But some niches also make economic growth difficult to settle.
06:44It's not just that.
06:46I believe that in Morocco we do a lot of things
06:50to encourage investment,
06:53whether national or international.
06:57The Moroccan capital in terms of national investment
07:00still has to make efforts
07:02because 60% of the investment is made by the state.
07:05– So go a little more towards the private sector
07:08to create more growth.
07:10You were talking earlier about skills and human capital.
07:14When we talk about training today in Morocco,
07:18is there an inadequacy
07:21between the current existing training
07:24and the needs of the market?
07:26You were talking about mutations.
07:28We are in the middle of it,
07:30we are living today a mutation in the labor market in general.
07:34How not to miss this gap?
07:37– Very well, I come from the university environment.
07:39We often tend to send the responsibility of unemployment
07:43partly to the university.
07:46In the global scheme, yes.
07:49There is an inadequacy between training
07:53and the demands of the labor market.
07:55But I believe that the university has made an effort
07:57in terms of subsidiaries,
07:59the adaptation of subsidiaries
08:01in relation to what the economic actors demand.
08:03But I believe that the biggest handicap is in the methods
08:06and the way of teaching,
08:08and what we teach young people.
08:11Now we go to the university to acquire knowledge.
08:15This is no longer the objective.
08:18Knowledge is democratized now.
08:20It is banalized, it is shared by everyone.
08:22It is on the platforms.
08:24We must change teaching methods.
08:26We must pass on to young people
08:29autonomy, responsibility, soft skills,
08:32the ability to solve problems, agility.
08:35– Or maybe focus on these new jobs
08:38that are being created.
08:40– Yes, also.
08:42Support Industry 4.0
08:45which requires skills
08:47that the university does not also offer.
08:51AI, database...
08:55– When you talk about industry,
08:58isn't there also a new risk
09:00when we talk about these new skills,
09:02artificial intelligence,
09:04the development of technology, of robotization?
09:07The employee, Lombeda,
09:10who worked 8 hours a day,
09:12can now be replaced by a machine
09:14that could work 24 hours a day.
09:17We would have fewer people
09:19for the maintenance of these machines.
09:21Is there a new risk
09:23that is taking place on the horizon?
09:25– This is a myth.
09:27That technology will replace man
09:30and will steal our jobs.
09:32– Some jobs, in any case.
09:34– Yes, but there is an ecosystem
09:37of jobs that open up.
09:40There is a big lever of employability.
09:47I do remote work.
09:53For example, young people
09:57who work with foreign companies
10:00in freelance.
10:02I'm talking about everything
10:04that new technology and computing
10:07can offer.
10:09Yes, some jobs will disappear,
10:12but more jobs will appear.
10:15We have to adapt to this
10:19and give our young people skills
10:23to support this change,
10:25rather than staying in the classic logic
10:28of transferring knowledge to the university.
10:31Unfortunately, we don't even transfer skills,
10:34but knowledge.
10:36I say that it has changed.
10:38It has started to change.
10:40I come from a university.
10:42I see it more closely.
10:44We have to make more efforts on this
10:46and give young people empowerment.
10:50It allows them to be more autonomous
10:54and more capable of solving problems instantly.
10:59– So, in this assessment that we are doing
11:01to conclude, if we had to project
11:03on the prospects of employment
11:05for the next year,
11:07so for 2025,
11:09what measures could we put in place
11:11to fix the situation very quickly?
11:14– To liberalize the economy more,
11:16more economic growth,
11:18that's in the long term.
11:20And try to balance the fiscal logic
11:22and the economic logic.
11:24That's in the long term.
11:26In the short term,
11:28to reduce the unemployment figure
11:31that is mentioned,
11:33we have to flexibilize the labor market.
11:36One.
11:37Two.
11:38Put more funds where we lose jobs.
11:41That is, in the rural world.
11:43The rural world is full of potential.
11:45There is not only agriculture and agriculture.
11:47There is rural tourism.
11:48There is corporate entrepreneurship.
11:50Everyone...
11:52You want to spend a weekend in the countryside,
11:55in a yacht or in a chalet, etc.
11:58Rural tourism,
12:00cooperatives,
12:02craftsmanship,
12:03agriculture, etc.
12:05Put money on it
12:07and create an entrepreneurial and wage-earning ecosystem
12:10in the rural world,
12:11where we lose jobs.
12:12– Thank you, Mr. Ahoma Tijani.
12:14I remind you that you are a professor of economics
12:16at the Faculty of Agriculture.
12:17It was a pleasure to have you with us
12:19for this report on employment in 2024.
12:21– Thank you and happy new year.
12:23– Happy new year to our dear viewers as well.
12:26This is the end of Focus Éco for today.
12:28See you tomorrow for a new report.
12:30Have a great day.