2024-07-04 17:37:25
“This public policy can also contribute in several other areas, upstream of the preparation of young people for the job market, through the improvement of the quality of education and training, and more generally investment in human capital,” said Mr. Jouahri who was speaking at the annual conference of the research network of central banks of the North Africa and Middle East (MENA) region.
Downstream, he argued, the contribution of public policy involves the implementation of measures and adequate regulation of the labour market, facilitating hiring, providing targeted incentives for salaried employment or entrepreneurship, and providing direct support to people who have difficulty accessing employment.
However, designing and successfully implementing effective employment policies remains a complex exercise that requires a thorough understanding of market dynamics and its interdependencies with different sectors of the economy, he noted.
Furthermore, the Wali of BAM stressed that for central banks, employment is a key variable that affects consumption and investment and ultimately the prices of goods and services, adding that a thorough understanding of developments in the labor market is thus essential for the conduct of their missions, particularly in terms of monetary policy.
At the level of our region, he continued, the problem of employment is more acute, since unemployment globally reaches a level twice as high as the world average, i.e. 10.4% compared to 5.8% in 2022.
In this regard, he pointed out that unemployment particularly affects young people, noting that for the 15 to 24 age group, approximately a third are neither employed, nor in education, nor in training.
In many countries, it is paradoxically young graduates who suffer the most from unemployment, generally long-term, stressed Mr. Jouahri, pointing out the low participation of women in the region, with an activity rate of around 20%, well below the world average which is close to 50%.
He also noted that with the paradigm shifts and profound transformations that the successive shocks of recent years have initiated or accelerated, understanding the evolution of labor markets is becoming increasingly difficult, which makes the formulation of public policy more complex.
According to Mr. Jouahri, this is climate change, the direct and indirect consequences of which are expected to be significant, particularly in countries such as Morocco, where agriculture still accounts for a significant proportion of the workforce.
To this end, he called for more investment in data production, in improving their quality and granularity and, above all, greater accessibility to data, particularly public data, noting that it is under these conditions that public authorities, guided by the results of quality research, could better meet the expectations of the population in terms of decent employment for our youth and our women.
For his part, the Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills, Younes Sekkouri, indicated that the issue of employment remains an important factor of inclusion and social cohesion, requiring strong political will to implement major reforms in the labor market.
In this regard, the Minister highlighted the strategies put in place to promote employment in our country, in particular the “Awrach” program which recorded a positive assessment for the year 2022, with 30% of beneficiaries being women and nearly 60% from rural areas, noting that the program will focus, in 2023, on targeting needs and long-term jobs.
Referring to social dialogue, Mr. Sekkouri stressed that the government has managed to agree with its various social partners on a social agreement that further promotes the employment environment in Morocco.
For his part, the regional vice president of the World Bank, Ferid Belhaj, said that the MENA region is facing an increasingly complex context, particularly after the succession of multiple crises, calling for opening the way to the private sector to create more job opportunities.
He also stressed the importance of ensuring better training for human capital, so that it is constantly adapted to the developments and needs of the labor market.
Organized at the initiative of BAM and the Office of the Chief Economist of the World Bank for the MENA region, the third edition of this conference, under the theme “Labor Markets and Structural Transformation”, is held as a prelude to the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which will take place next October in Marrakech.
The meeting will be marked by the interventions of several internationally renowned economists and will see the participation of senior officials representing national and international institutions, academia and the private sector.
The conference proceedings will mainly address the issues and challenges facing labor markets, particularly in the MENA region, in relation to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, digital transformation, geopolitical tensions and the rise of protectionism, as well as the quality of human capital and the development of the private sector.
2024-07-04 17:37:25