Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Morocco (Ratification: 1979)

1. The Committee took note of the Government's reports for the periods ending June 1991 and June 1992, which contain information in reply to its previous comments. The data on the labour market supplied by the Government shows that the number of new jobs created each year is still insufficient to make up for the rapid growth in the active population. Despite a sustained expansion of economic activity, new arrivals on the labour market, whose educational level is tending to be higher and a growing proportion of whom are women, are encountering substantial difficulties in finding a job. Over half of the unemployed are less than 25 years of age and the unemployment rate, which reached a national average rate of 12.1 per cent in 1991, varied between 5.6 per cent in rural areas and 20.6 per cent in urban areas. According to the Government, statistical surveys show both an overall imbalance between supply and demand and the inadequacy of training in relation to the skills sought on the labour market. The Committee requests the Government to continue to supply as detailed and recent statistical data as possible on the labour market.

2. The Government states that in order to combat unemployment it is implementing a series of labour market policy measures including direct job creation measures and incentives for the creation of jobs, as well as measures to strengthen and adapt the vocational training system. It makes specific reference, within the context of national promotion work, to substantial construction and public work projects which are labour intensive and have a favourable impact on employment and the training of those concerned. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would describe how they contribute to raising the skill levels and achieving the lasting integration of the workers concerned into employment. The Government also states that measures to encourage investment for job creation have made it possible to create a growing number of jobs in the private industrial sector, particularly for young graduates. It emphasizes that the scheme to support young promoters, the objective of which is to facilitate the access to credit of young entrepreneurs, has been strengthened. The Committee requests the Government to supply detailed information on the results achieved by the various incentives for the creation of jobs.

3. The Committee notes with interest the measures which have been taken and are envisaged to combat unemployment more effectively among the young. It notes in particular the establishment of the National Council for Youth and the Future (CNJA), which has the mission of ensuring the integration of young graduates into working life. It also notes the efforts deployed to establish new public training institutions and to develop further training or training and employment schemes. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information in its next report on the implementation of the national plan for the training and integration of young graduates. It also requests the Government to state whether its plan to establish a National Employment Agency has come to fruition.

4. With reference to its previous observation, the Committee notes that the Government considers that the measures that it has described are sufficient to refute the allegations made by the Democratic Confederation of Labour and the General Union of Moroccan Workers that it was not pursuing an effective employment policy. The Committee recalls that these two organizations considered that the Government, by abandoning its planning policy and replacing it by plans to balance its finances in accordance with the advice and directives of the IMF, was not attaching sufficient importance to the objectives of employment. The Committee notes, however, that the Government's report does not include the information requested on the procedures adopted to ensure that the impact on employment of the measures which have been taken to promote economic development and other economic and social objectives are taken into consideration, particularly within the context of the implementation of the structural adjustment plan. The Committee is bound to emphasize in this respect that Article 1, paragraph 3, of the Convention provides that the employment policy shall take due account of the "mutual relationships between employment objectives and other economic and social objectives", and that Article 2 provides that the measures adopted to achieve the employment objectives shall lie "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy". It trusts that the Government will supply full information in its next report, in response to the questions in the report form, on the effect given to these provisions of the Convention.

5. In response to the allegations made by the above organizations of the non-observance of Article 3, the Government states that the organizations of employers and workers are consulted within the framework of the sessions of the CNJA and the national and regional vocational training committees. The Committee requests the Government to report the opinions gathered during these consultations and describe the manner in which account has been taken of them, by attaching any relevant extracts of records or reports. It also recalls that in addition to the representatives of organizations of employers and workers, consultations with the representatives of the persons affected by employment policy measures should also include representatives of other sectors of the active population, such as those working in the rural sector and the informal sector. The Committee notes the abolition of the Higher National Development and Planning Council and the recent establishment of the Economic and Social Council by the Dahir of 9 October 1992. It would be grateful if the Government would indicate the composition and competence of this latter institution and describe the manner in which it can fulfil the functions of consultation on matters relating to the employment policy which were within the mandate of the above Higher Council.