Employment: Morocco Changes Its Statistical Thermometer

The Moroccan labour market is now being observed through a new statistical lens. In the first quarter of 2026, the High Commission for Planning (HCP) published the first results of the new Labour Force Survey (LFS 2026), which is set to replace the former National Employment Survey.

According to the institution, “the new Labour Force Survey constitutes the first survey in a new generation of labour market surveys in Morocco.”

Designed in line with the standards adopted at the 19th, 20th and 21st International Conferences of Labour Statisticians of the International Labour Organization, this reform introduces a major conceptual break: the new data are not directly comparable with previous series.

Structural shifts

The first change concerns the very definition of employment. From now on, only persons engaged in an activity “for pay or profit” are considered employed. As a result, activities primarily intended for self-consumption within non-market units fall outside the scope of employment and are now classified as production for own use.

A second shift concerns the adoption of unemployment in the strict sense. The HCP specifies that it “considers as unemployed only persons without work, available for work, and actively seeking employment.”

Excluded, therefore, are persons who are available but not actively seeking work, as well as those who are seeking work but are not immediately available. This change aims to “better measure the immediate pressure exerted on the labour market.”

A third major development concerns labour underutilisation, which is no longer assessed solely through the unemployment rate. The new framework retains four complementary indicators incorporating strict unemployment, time-related underemployment, and the potential labour force.

According to the HCP, this approach makes it possible “to better grasp the different forms of labour underutilisation” and to measure “current and potential pressures exerted on the labour market.”

The overhaul also affects survey methodology. The annual sample has increased from 90,000 to 135,000 households. The sampling frame has been updated based on the results of the 2024 General Census of Population and Housing. A new quarterly and annual rotation scheme has also been introduced.

According to the HCP, these changes “enable partial longitudinal tracking of households as well as the analysis of quarterly and annual labour market dynamics”, while significantly improving “the precision of indicators, particularly at regional and provincial levels.”

A pronounced gender gap

The first results drawn from this new framework show that, in the first quarter of 2026, the working-age population reached 27.8 million people. The labour force—comprising persons employed for income and strictly unemployed persons—stood at 11.6 million.

The participation rate thus stands at 41.8% nationally, at 41% in urban areas, and at 43.3% in rural areas. A pronounced gender gap remains: the rate reaches 66.4% among men compared with only 17.5% among women. The HCP also notes that women represent just 21% of the labour force, even though they account for 71.2% of the population outside the labour force.

The number of persons employed for income reaches 10.364 million. The employment rate stands at 37.3%, with 35.5% in urban areas and 40.7% in rural areas. Once again, disparities are marked: 60.1% among men versus 14.7% among women. The 35–44 age group records the highest employment rate (52.8%), followed by those aged 25–34 (47.6%), while young people aged 15–24 remain at 16.6%.

Sectorally, the tertiary sector remains the main driver of employment. Services employ over 5 million workers, accounting for 49.1% of total employment. This is followed by agriculture, forestry, and fishing with 2.5 million people (24.5%), industry with 1.4 million (13.6%), and construction with 1.3 million (12.7%).

In urban areas, nearly two-thirds of employed workers (64.3%) are engaged in services. In rural areas, agriculture accounts for 55.2% of jobs.

Potential labour force

The new measurement of labour underutilisation reveals broader tensions than unemployment alone. The number of strictly unemployed persons reaches 1.25 million, 79.6% of whom live in urban areas.

The strict unemployment rate stands at 10.8% nationally, at 13.5% in urban areas, and at 6.1% in rural areas. It reaches 16.1% among women compared with 9.4% among men. Young people aged 15–24 remain the most exposed, with a rate of 29.2%, followed by those aged 25–34 at 16.1%.

Time-related underemployment affects 671,000 people, while the potential labour force reaches 884,000 people, representing 5.5% of the population outside the labour force.

The combined rate of strict unemployment and underemployment stands at 16.6%. The combined rate of strict unemployment and potential labour force reaches 17.1%.

As for the composite rate of labour underutilisation, it stands at 22.5% nationally, 24.8% in urban areas, and 18.3% in rural areas. “This approach highlights the scale and diversity of the pressures actually exerted on the labour market,” the HCP notes.

Beyond cyclical figures, LFS 2026 introduces a new way of reading labour in Morocco. By broadening the scope of observation to include both visible and invisible forms of underutilisation, the framework now provides a more refined picture of the structural tensions within the labour market.

For the HCP, this new statistical architecture is intended to better inform public policy, at a time when the challenges of youth integration, women’s participation, and job quality remain at the heart of the Kingdom’s economic and social concerns.

Vulnerable groups

Reading these new statistics reveals that certain groups remain particularly vulnerable. The composite labour underutilisation rate reaches 45.3% among young people aged 15–24, 28.2% among those aged 25–34, and 31.1% among women—well above the average rate of 22.5%.

These figures reflect the coexistence of unemployment, underemployment, and constrained inactivity within the most fragile segments of the labour market.

Regionally, six regions record participation rates above the national average of 41.8%: Dakhla–Oued Eddahab (63.9%), Tangier–Tétouan–Al Hoceïma (46.4%), Casablanca–Settat (45.6%), Laâyoune–Sakia El Hamra (43.1%), Rabat–Salé–Kénitra (42.6%), and Marrakech–Safi (42.2%).

In terms of strict unemployment, Laâyoune–Sakia El Hamra records the highest level at 20.3%, followed by the Oriental region at 14.9% and Guelmim–Oued Noun at 14.8%. Conversely, Dakhla–Oued Eddahab posts the lowest unemployment rate, at 5.7%.