Casablanca-Settat strengthens position as Morocco’s economic engine in 2024

The report highlights the region’s continued dominance in the national economy, with employment and business activity showing steady growth despite persistent structural challenges.

According to the study, the number of jobs declared to the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) reached 1.92 million in 2024, representing a 5.2% increase compared with the previous year.

The rise in employment was accompanied by a modest improvement in wage levels. The proportion of employees earning less than MAD 4,000 per month declined by 1.3 percentage points compared with 2023 and by 2.9 points since 2022, reaching 63.1% in 2024.

Meanwhile, 35.6% of employees earned no more than the minimum wage (SMIG), down from 42.7% in 2023, although slightly above the 32.8% recorded in 2022. At the upper end of the salary scale, workers earning more than MAD 20,000 per month remained a small minority, accounting for just 5.1% of declared employees.

The region’s business landscape also continued to expand. The number of active companies registered with the CNSS reached 110,459 in 2024, up 3.6% year-on-year.

Casablanca prefecture maintained its position as the region’s primary economic center in terms of declared employment, while Mohammedia recorded notable growth. In contrast, the provinces of Settat and Sidi Bennour experienced declines.

Sectoral data show that wholesale and retail trade, including vehicle and motorcycle repair activities, remained the largest segment of the regional business ecosystem, accounting for 28.1% of all declared companies. The construction sector followed with a 14.5% share.

In terms of employment, administrative and support service activities continued to be the region’s largest employer, representing 22.3% of total declared jobs and recording employment growth of 5.5% in 2024.

Trade and vehicle repair ranked second, accounting for 16.1% of jobs, while construction remained the third-largest employer for the second consecutive year, with a 14.2% share of regional employment.

By contrast, the “other service activities” sector recorded the steepest decline, with the number of declared companies falling by 3.6% and employment dropping by 8%.

The report also underscored the continued dominance of small businesses within the regional economy. Companies employing fewer than 10 workers accounted for 84.4% of all businesses registered with the CNSS, a proportion unchanged from 2023.

Employment growth was particularly strong among companies aged between six and 10 years, which recorded the highest increase in declared jobs at 7.6% between 2023 and 2024. Their contribution to regional employment rose from 13.7% to 13.9%.

Nevertheless, firms operating for more than 10 years continued to account for the majority of jobs in the region, representing 66.7% of declared employment.

Very small, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remained the main source of employment, accounting for 60.6% of all declared workers in 2024, despite a slight decline of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year.

Within this category, very small enterprises employed 18.4% of workers, small businesses accounted for 16.7%, and medium-sized firms represented 16.3%.

Large companies employed the remaining 39.4% of declared workers and recorded a 5.8% increase in employment compared with 2023.

The region’s wage bill also continued to expand, reaching MAD 120.3 billion in 2024, an annual increase of 8.5% following growth of 8.1% in 2023.

Among economic sectors, professional, scientific and technical activities recorded the strongest increase in payroll, rising by 14.8% over the year. Information and communication activities followed with a 13% increase, while construction posted payroll growth of 11.7%.

Despite these gains, trade and vehicle repair remained the largest contributor to the regional wage bill, accounting for 19.1% of total payroll expenditures.

Professional, scientific and technical activities ranked second with a 13.8% share, ahead of manufacturing industries at 13.6%.

Together, these three sectors generated 46.5% of Casablanca-Settat’s total wage bill in 2024 while employing 37.3% of all workers declared to the CNSS, underscoring their central role in the region’s economic activity.