The number of people in paid employment in Morocco fell by 173,000 between the second and third quarters of 2026, according to the note published on 3 November by the High Commission for Planning. It stands at 10.470 million, compared with 10.643 million in the previous quarter.
This measure covers work performed for pay or for individual or family profit. It belongs to the new Labour Force Survey, which replaces the National Employment Survey and broadens the observation of difficulties in accessing work.
A rural decline and contrasting sectoral trends
The decline is concentrated mainly in rural areas, where employment falls by 148,000 people, compared with 25,000 in urban areas. This territorial breakdown, however, does not coincide with that of economic sectors.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing record a net decline of 145,000 paid jobs. Services lose 96,000 and construction 3,000. Conversely, industry shows a net increase of 69,000 jobs, which offsets part of the declines observed elsewhere.
The HCP notes that variations between consecutive quarters may combine seasonal effects, structural changes and cyclical factors. The observed decline is therefore not, on its own, enough to establish structural job destruction.
Labour needs beyond strict unemployment
Meanwhile, strict unemployment reaches 10.5% of the labour force. It concerns people without paid work who are actively seeking one and available to take it up. This definition leaves aside other forms of need for work.
The survey measures these with a composite indicator combining strict unemployment, underemployment linked to working time and potential labour force. Relative to the broader labour force, its rate rises from 18.9% in the second quarter to 19.6% in the third. It reaches 44.5% among 15-24-year-olds and 28.5% among women.
The analysis of the second quarter, published on 23 October, had already explained this reading framework. The potential labour force notably includes people who are seeking work or available to work, without simultaneously meeting both conditions of strict unemployment.
The new system is based on an annual sample of 135,000 households, a sampling frame drawn from the 2024 census and partial longitudinal tracking. These methodological and conceptual changes create a new statistical benchmark, which is not directly comparable with the old series of the National Employment Survey.