Morocco’s unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage points between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025, falling from 13.7% to 13.3%.
This rate stood at 16.6% in urban areas (a decrease of 1 point), 7.3% in rural areas (an increase of 0.5 points), 11.5% among men (down 0.5 points), and 19.9% among women (down 0.2 points),
The total number of unemployed persons dropped by 1%, reaching 1,630,000, with a decrease of 40,000 in urban areas and an increase of 25,000 in rural areas.
Among youth aged 15 to 24, the unemployment rate rose by 1.8 points to 37.7%, while it declined by 0.8 points to 21.2% among those aged 25 to 34, by 0.5 points to 7.5% among those aged 35 to 44, and by 0.6 points to 3.9% among those aged 45 and over.
The unemployment rate among graduates also dropped by 0.9 points, reaching 19.4%. The decline was most notable among holders of technician and mid-level management diplomas (down 3.9 points to 24%) and vocational qualification diplomas (down 3.6 points to 21.9%).
In addition, the HCP noted that the number of underemployed workers increased nationally from 1,069,000 to 1,254,000 between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025—rising from 571,000 to 662,000 in urban areas, and from 499,000 to 592,000 in rural areas.
As a result, the underemployment rate rose by 1.5 points nationally, from 10.3% to 11.8%. It increased by 2.3 points in rural areas, reaching 14.8%, and by 1 point in urban areas, reaching 10%.
Regarding underemployment based on the number of hours worked, the figure rose from 576,000 to 664,000 people nationally, with the corresponding rate increasing from 5.6% to 6.3%.
The number of underemployed individuals due to insufficient income or a mismatch between training and the job held increased from 493,000 to 590,000 nationwide. The corresponding rate went up from 4.8% to 5.6%.
All sectors recorded an increase in underemployment. The construction and public works sector (BTP), the most affected, saw the sharpest rise with an increase of 3.6 points (from 19% to 22.6%), followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing with 2.3 points (from 12.1% to 14.4%), industry with 1 point (from 6.3% to 7.3%), and services with 0.7 points (from 8.3% to 9%).
