- To create 1m net employment by end-2026
- Big lessons for Nigeria with 80m unemployed
- Sub-Saharan Africa needs 15m jobs to absorb unemployed youths annually – IMF
Morocco, Africa’s largest industrial economy, with a nominal GDP of approximately $194.33 billion for 2026, but with a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) GDP at roughly $469.39 billion, has introduced a significant expansion of its national employment strategy, committing an additional MAD 15 billion (about $1.65 billion) to drive job creation.
Known as the Employment Roadmap 2030, the initiative targets to create one million net jobs by end of 2026, with a strong focus on youth employment.
Morocco, with a total population of 38.7 million people, has a median age of 30.1 years. Young people make up a large part of this total, accounting for up to 34 percent of the country’s overall population.
The new initiative is all inclusive, the government said, offering opportunities to youth without university degrees, and also aiming to support women.
According to the Moroccan government, efforts will also target at reducing school dropout rates and expanding programs like ‘second chance schools.’
Reports from the UNICEF and the Moroccan ministry of education, said between 280,000 to 295,000 Moroccan students abandon their education every school year. Over half of these dropouts occur at the middle school (lower secondary) level.
Hence, this massive investment serves as a core part of the North African nation’s employment roadmap 2030, which aims to provide better access to the labour market for the country’s young population.
Big lessons for Nigeria
Nigeria has big lessons to learn from the Moroccan government’s initiative. As Africa’s most populated country, with a significant school dropout and out-of-school crisis, coupled with a 5.3 percent youth unemployment, Nigeria suffers from acute out-of-jobs crisis.
Reports from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said roughly 43 percent of Nigerian children who start primary school do not transition to or complete secondary education, contributing to an estimated 18.3 million out-of-school children nationwide.
In September 2025, a “State of the Nigerian Youth report”, presented during the Nigerian Youth Dialogue organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Youth in Parliament, revealed that 80 million youths are unemployed in Nigeria, painting a sobering picture of the struggles confronting young Nigerians.
But Morocco has a decent scenario. Morocco World News said Morocco’s unemployed population is estimated at 1.121 million people, while Morocco is one of Africa’s most industrialized countries.
Hence, analysts say an investment of over $1.6 billion is quite crucial to empowering the remaining unemployed populace.
According to Younes Sekkouri, Morocco’s minister of economic inclusion, small business, employment and skills, while presenting the new government funding in a report to the House of Councillors, explained that the initiative is part of a broader government promise to create at least one million net jobs between 2021 and 2026.
According to Morocco World News, a major priority of this plan is reaching young people who “are neither employed, in education, nor receiving vocational training.”
“This initiative is designed to be inclusive, specifically opening up employment programs to youth without degrees who have often been left out of previous labor initiatives. To ensure more citizens can participate, the government plans to address practical challenges that often keep women out of the workforce, such as the availability of childcare, public lighting, and safe transportation,” Sekkouri said at House of Councillors.
In addition, the youth and women-specific strategy focuses on reducing school dropout rates and expanding programs like “Second Chance Schools” to help those who left the education system early.
The new government program also focuses on local areas to help more young people find jobs. It studies local job markets to find growing industries, and ensuring new job opportunities are based on real data and clear actions.
The Moroccan National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills, or ANAPEC, has set high goals under the reform, aiming to help some 800,000 individuals find work and provide support for 60,000 new entrepreneurs.
The Moroccan government says it intends to use these efforts and new partnerships with regional authorities, to create a stronger and more modern ecosystem for employment across the entire country.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s army of unemployed youths
Indeed, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has an army of young populations with millions of talented and skilled youths unemployed, waiting to be annexed by the right opportunities. This happens while several European and Asian countries are grappling with the menace of a rapidly declining workforce due to an aging population.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the SSA region, rich in minerals and human resources, will need to create at least 15 million jobs annually to absorb the booming youthful population.
