Morocco’s unemployment rate fell to 13.1% at the end of September 2025, down from 13.6% a year earlier, the Office of the High Commissioner for Planning (HCP) reported, reflecting a modest improvement in the labor market. The HCP said this improvement occurred as employment growth in the services, construction and industrial sectors helped offset weakness elsewhere in the economy.
The decline of 0.5 percentage points represents a reversal of the slight rise in the jobless rate recorded in some prior periods, according to the HCP’s latest labor statistics. The agency attributed the net improvement to gains in three broad sectors: services, which encompass a wide range of activities from commerce to professional services; construction, historically sensitive to public and private investment cycles; and industry, including manufacturing and related activities. Those sectoral gains were sufficient, the HCP indicated, to compensate for slower or negative employment performance in other parts of the economy.
The HCP’s release did not provide detailed breakdowns in the summary notice released alongside the headline unemployment figure. As a result, the exact contributions of each sector to the overall change in employment levels are not specified in the public statement. The agency’s data do, however, underscore the continuing structural character of Morocco’s labor market, where shifts between sectors can materially affect headline unemployment even when overall economic growth is moderate.
The labor market’s condition will be observed in the context of broader economic indicators. Employment growth in services, construction and industry can reflect a range of forces, including changes in domestic demand, public and private investment projects, export performance in manufacturing, and seasonal hiring patterns. When those sectors expand, they can absorb workers displaced from other sectors or accommodate new entrants to the labor force; conversely, contraction in key segments can put upward pressure on the unemployment rate.
Despite the recent improvement, the unemployment rate remains in double digits, signaling persistent challenges for the Moroccan labor market. Longstanding issues such as job creation for a growing working-age population, the matching of skills to labor demand, and regional disparities in employment opportunities continue to shape policy debates. The HCP’s statistics provide a regular empirical basis for monitoring such trends and for assessing the impact of economic and labor policies.
Looking ahead, the trajectory of the unemployment rate will depend on whether the positive momentum in services, construction and industry is sustained and whether growth in those sectors generates broad-based, stable employment. Future HCP releases and more detailed breakdowns of sectoral employment and demographic characteristics of the unemployed will be used by policymakers, employers and analysts to assess whether the decline to 13.1% signals a durable improvement or a temporary fluctuation.