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More government jobs slated for Moroccan youths

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat

Experts and youths lauded Morocco's decision to temporarily boost state employment for university graduates, but some see it as a move to contain the problem, rather than solve it.
Morocco will employ 4,304 graduate degree holders for government positions, officials announced March 2nd. The move comes as a concession to university graduates who had staged frequent demonstrations outside Parliament.

The job integration will take effect starting March 1st, Yassine Affani, member of the national committee of unemployed doctors, said. All that is needed now is to implement various administrative procedures. In its statement, the committee hailed the state efforts to address the youth unemployment problem in Morocco.

The government team has shown great flexibility in finding a favourable resolution to the issue, Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said on March 3rd.

Young graduates will now be recruited into the public services directly without taking competitive entry examinations. The government passed a decree on February 24th, and the arrangement will only apply during 2011.

This temporary solution, although welcomed by all sides, will not resolve the problem of unemployment in Morocco, a number of specialists warned.

According to economist Karim Machidi, the government's generosity towards unemployed graduates has been dictated by the current Arab regional context. The measure will cool things for a while, he explained, but other groups of jobless youths will emerge and exert more pressure on the executive.

He called for the introduction of a well-defined strategy to reduce unemployment by changing the general trend of university education to favour areas of study which are in greatest demand on the labour market.

"With the emergence of new professions and the adoption of modern production techniques, the labour market in Morocco needs skills which will match the developments being seen in a number of growing sectors," Employment Minister Jamal Rhmani said at a March 3rd conference in Rabat.

Business leaders have been urged to play their part in this area and open up the doors of business training to young people. The General Confederation of Moroccan Businesses (CGEM) on March 3rd proposed a raft of measures, such the creation of initial experience contracts, the integration of people with disabilities, the introduction of a redundancy compensation system and reform of the labour code to encourage more flexible employment.

This platform also includes measures to help match supply with demand in the labour market, such as speeding up the reform of the special training contracts (CSF), developing apprenticeships, building better bridges between enterprises and universities and involving businesses in career guidance for pupils and students. The confederation also proposed special conversion training for graduates in subject areas with no economically viable openings.

Parents also need to guide their children according to the needs of the market, sociologist Samira Kassimi said.

"Today, the private sector is the most promising, and provides the majority of jobs. Young people must grasp this idea in order to prepare for the needs of the workplace," she said.

© IRNA 2011