Moroccco Q2 Unemployment Falls To 9.1%

Moroccan unemployment fell to 9.1 percent in the second quarter from 9.6 percent in the first as construction and services soaked up more available labour, the state High Planning Commission said on Thursday.More work was created in urban areas than lost in the drought-stricken countryside, with a net 19,000 new jobs compared to the April-June quarter of 2007, the HCP said in a statement.

As a result, the number of unemployed Moroccans fell to 1.03 million from 1.06 million, it said.The services sector created 152,000 jobs as new business parks offering call centre and other offshore services took in newly qualified graduates and the telecoms industry continued to grow.

Construction, which is booming thanks to government-backed social housing, road, rail and port projects and tourism developments, created 80,000 jobs. A vast informal economy means Morocco's official employment data may veer widely from the reality.

Many family-run businesses hire and fire as contracts come and go and the country's towns and cities are full of casual workers hawking clothes, shining shoes, collecting scrap metal or attending parked cars. State payroll cuts have removed the chance of a safe government job for many university graduates, who stage angry demonstrations almost daily in the streets of the capital Rabat.

According to an official report in 2006, Morocco needs to create 400,000 jobs per year over the next ten years to prevent rising unemployment that would threaten its stability.