Morocco youth unemployment hits 30.5%; women’s rate reaches 16.7%

Morocco’s unemployment rate for people aged 15–24 rose to 30.5% in the third quarter of 2026, up from 27.2% in the second quarter, according to Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP), which published its labor-market report Tuesday, November 3.

Within that age group’s labor force, the rate increased 3.3 percentage points in three months. For a young applicant, the HCP’s quarterly movement marks a worse aggregate position than in Q2; broader measures show why the headline figure is incomplete.

Where is unemployment concentrated?

The HCP’s age breakdown places the pressure at the youngest working ages:

• Ages 15–24: Unemployment reached 30.5%, up 3.3 percentage points from 27.2% in Q2 2026.
• Ages 25–34: Unemployment rose to 16% from 14.5%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points.
• Ages 35–44: Unemployment stood at 5.8%.
• Ages 45 and older: The rate was 3.5%.

The HCP’s figures put the clearest pressure at the youngest working ages: a 3.3-point rise for 15–24-year-olds and a 1.5-point rise for 25–34-year-olds. The two older groups recorded rates below 6%.

What does 44.5% underutilization mean for young job seekers?

The HCP’s composite labor underutilization rate—a broader measure combining unemployment, underemployment and potential entrants outside the official labor force—reached 44.5% among 15–24-year-olds. Nearly half of that expanded youth labor force was unemployed or not fully using its available labor capacity.

Because underutilization reached 44.5% while labor-force participation—the share active in the labor market—stood at 23.3% for ages 15–24, the 30.5% unemployment rate alone understates available but unused youth labor. Participation reached 56.6% in both the 25–34 and 35–44 groups, and the youth employment rate—the share with a job—was 16.2%.

For an individual job seeker, the 44.5% figure means unemployment alone is a poor measure of entry-market pressure; the pool also includes underemployed workers and potential entrants.

How large is the gender employment gap?

Female unemployment reached 16.7% in Q3 2026, nearly twice the 8.7% recorded for men. The deterioration was also steeper for women: their rate increased 1.9 percentage points from Q2, compared with 0.6 points for men.

• Composite underutilization: 28.5% for women, compared with 17% for men.
• Labor-force participation: 18.1% for women, compared with 65.6% for men.
• Employment: 15% for women, compared with 59.9% for men.

Women accounted for 21.7% of the labor force while representing 70.6% of the population outside it. Those HCP shares reinforce the wider finding that women remain disproportionately outside active work and paid employment, although the figures do not identify the causes.

What should job seekers and analysts take from the report?

The figures provided are national aggregates by age and sex; they do not break out sectors, occupations or regions. The source material gives no survey sample size and does not say whether the Q2 comparisons were revised, so any quarter-to-quarter reading rests on the published rates.

Within those limits, the deterioration is specific: unemployment rose 3.3 percentage points among 15–24-year-olds and 1.5 points among 25–34-year-olds, while women’s overall rate increased 1.9 points against 0.6 for men. The data place 15–24-year-olds and women in the weakest reported positions, but they do not identify which sectors or roles are hiring.

The next HCP quarterly release will show whether the Q3 increases become a sustained pattern; for now, the evidence points to the clearest labor-market pressure on Morocco’s 15–24-year-olds and women.