Outgoing: Three unfinished promises Morocco’s new government will inherit

Morocco’s outgoing government promised 1 million net jobs, a female labor-force participation rate above 30% and a monthly income of 1,000 dirhams ($106) for people over 65 by 2026.

By the end of 2025, Morocco had added about 94,000 net jobs since 2021. Women’s labor-force participation stood at 19%, while the promised senior income had not been introduced in its original form.

All three targets were set out in the government’s 2021-2026 program. They now become unfinished commitments inherited by the new government.

Where are the 1 million jobs?

The outgoing government set a target of at least 1 million net jobs over five years, or roughly 200,000 jobs a year.

The employment figures, however, moved in the opposite direction during the first half of the mandate.

Morocco lost 24,000 jobs in 2022, according to the High Commission for Planning, or HCP. Agriculture, forestry and fishing shed 215,000 jobs, while services added 164,000 and industry 28,000.

In 2023, the country lost another 157,000 jobs overall. Agriculture, forestry and fishing shed 202,000 jobs, while services added 15,000, industry 7,000 and construction 19,000.

The balance turned positive in 2024, when Morocco created 82,000 jobs. Services accounted for 160,000, industry for 46,000 and construction for 13,000, while agriculture lost another 137,000.

Employment increased by a further 193,000 jobs in 2025. Services created 123,000 positions, construction 64,000 and industry 46,000, while agriculture, forestry and fishing lost 41,000 jobs.

Taken together, the HCP figures amount to a net increase of roughly 94,000 jobs between 2021 and 2025 — less than one-tenth of the government’s 1 million-job target.

The figures also highlight a distinction in how employment gains are presented. The original government target concerned net job creation across the economy, while the government’s reported figure of 850,000 jobs refers to jobs created outside agriculture and does not offset agricultural jobs lost during the period.

The wider labor market remained under pressure.

HCP counted 1.621 million unemployed people in 2025, putting the national unemployment rate at 13%. Youth unemployment reached 37.2%, while unemployment among women rose from 19.4% to 20.5%. The number of people in underemployment also increased, from 1.082 million to 1.19 million.

The new government therefore inherits a 1 million-job target after about 94,000 net jobs were added through 2025.

Women’s employability eyed to reach 30%

The outgoing government also set a target of raising women’s labor-force participation to more than 30% by 2026, from around 20% when it took office.

The objective was part of a broader policy framework focused on women’s employment and entrepreneurship, training and measures to help reconcile professional and family responsibilities.

HCP’s 2025 figures put women’s labor-force participation at 19%, down slightly from 19.1% in 2024 and broadly unchanged from the level at the beginning of the government’s term.

That leaves a gap of roughly 11 percentage points from the 30% target.

The employment figures show another layer of the challenge. Only 15.1% of working-age women were employed in 2025, while the female unemployment rate reached 20.5%.

For men, the labor-force participation rate was 68.5% in 2025, compared with 19% for women.

HCP’s second-quarter 2026 survey put female labor-force participation at 18.1%, compared with 66.5% for men. HCP has cautioned that the new survey uses a different methodology, meaning the 2026 figure should not be directly compared with the previous series without using adjusted data.

The government introduced programs aimed at bringing more women into the workforce, but female labor-force participation remained well below the 30% target set for 2026.

The ‘seniors income’ that never saw the day

The third promise came with an even clearer timetable: The government pledged to introduce a monthly “dignity income” for people aged 65 and older, gradually reaching 1,000 dirhams by 2026.

In July 2022, then-Solidarity Minister Aawatif Hayar provided a more detailed timeline: payments would begin at 400 dirhams a month for people over 65 at the end of 2022 and gradually rise to 1,000 dirhams by 2026.

The scheme was intended to target older people based on social vulnerability. The first payment did not arrive as originally scheduled.

By October 2022, the promised income was absent from the government’s draft 2023 budget. The government did not provide a clear timetable for its introduction, while then-Budget Minister Fouzi Lekjaa said the government intended to pursue a broader form of income support rather than simply implement the announced senior payment.

Morocco subsequently moved toward a different social-protection mechanism.

From May 1, 2025, the National Social Security Fund, or CNSS, introduced an old-age pension for people who had retired between January 2023 and the entry into force of the relevant legislation and had between 1,320 and fewer than 3,240 insurance days.

The monthly pension ranges from 600 to 1,000 dirhams, depending on accumulated insurance days, and includes mandatory health insurance coverage.

The 1,000-dirham figure therefore exists within the pension system, but the measure does not reproduce the original 2021 commitment.

The original pledge was an age-based “dignity income” for people over 65, with payments gradually rising to 1,000 dirhams.

The CNSS measure is instead an old-age pension linked to a person’s contribution record. A person reaching 65 therefore does not automatically receive 1,000 dirhams under the CNSS scheme.

The new government inherits a senior-income pledge that was announced with a 2026 deadline but was replaced by a different mechanism before that deadline arrived.