High and Persistent Skilled Unemployment In Morocco: Explaining it by Skills Mismatch

This paper sheds light on the increasing and persistent skilled unemployment in Morocco over the past decade – oscillating around 20% of total unemployment. It identifies and estimates the role and significance of a skill mismatch between Morocco’s education system and its labor market, illustrated by the ratio between technical and general university degrees produced by the education system. The paper finds supporting evidence that a skill mismatch does play a significant role in explaining Morocco’s increasing skilled unemployment in a context of on-going structural reforms.