Morocco's Employment Strengths
From International Business Wiki
Morocco Employment Strengths
Morocco, although displaying weak employment, is on the verge of a stronger employment. Morocco has an unemployment rate of 7.7% with a labor force of approximately 10.86 million people, which create a GDP which accounts for about 7% of the African continent. The Moroccan labor force consists of approximately 45% working in service, 40% working in agriculture, and 15% working in industry. There was a rise in the GDP in 2006 up to 6.7%, due to excessive rainfall which created a strong second harvest.
Morocco is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of cannabis, which is typically processed into hashish. Although they are a top producer, it still only consists of about 0.5% of Morocco’s GDP. Other notable agricultural employments consist of the production of barley, wheat, citrus, wine, vegetables and olives. The main industries in Morocco consist of phosphate rock mining and processing, food processing, leather goods, textiles, construction and tourism.
Morocco came to possess approximately two-thirds of the world’s reserves of phosphate, used for the manufacturers of fertilizer and other products, which created many jobs, but the cheap cost of the mineral have hindered work.
The creation and expansion of new hotels is becoming quite popular in Morocco. According to Minister Adil Douiri, “Tourism in Morocco is expected to generate about 80,000 direct and 400,000 indirect jobs by 2010.” This will significantly help to strengthen the employment rate.
In an attempt to better employment in Morocco, they have signed free trade agreements with the European Union (effective 2010) and the United States of America. In January of 2006 the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement turned effective and allows for 98% of the two way trade of consumer and industrial products to be without tariff. This free trade will increase the imports and exports going through Morocco, and ultimately the efficiency will create more employment.
Moroccan employment is on the rise, notably because of tourism and Free Trade Agreements. These two factors should considerably help the employment continue to strengthen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-46576/Morocco http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-46576/Morocco http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2006/07/13/feature-01 http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/business/2005/06/30/newsbrief-01
