Report on Moroccan Migrants: Skills, Destination Countries, Motivations

A new report has been released by the European Training Foundation (ETF) that sheds some light on the lives of Moroccan migrants. Here is an article about the report from the ENPI Information and Communication Support Project.
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Morocco: new report sheds light on link between skills and migration

26-02-2013

Forty-two per cent of Moroccans would like to emigrate, but only 9% have the proper information, documents and money to do so, according to the results of the largest study of migration in Morocco to date, released by the European Training Foundation (ETF) today.  Of those that did leave, 62% said they learnt a language or acquired other technical or professional skills while abroad, the survey found.

 

The study “Migration and skills” combined desk research with a survey of 2,600 potential emigrants and 1,400 labour migrants who returned to the country.

 

The purpose of the study is to contribute to the improvement of migration policies both in the EU and Morocco by providing high-quality data and analysis. The ETF has carried out similar studies in Albania, Egypt, Tunisia, Ukraine and Tajikistan (2006-08) and Armenia and Georgia (2011-12).

 

The report was released at a seminar in Rabat attended by key Moroccan institutions – Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, Ministry in charge of the Moroccans Living Abroad - as well as the representatives of the EU and researchers.

 

Morocco has a long history of labour migration to Europe dating back several decades. Currently there are some 3 million Moroccans who have left their country and live abroad, of whom four out of ten are women. 

 

Key facts and figures from the study: 

• 42% Moroccans declare intention to emigrate; regions where highest number of people declares intent to migrate are Agadir (52%) and Marrakesh (49%)
• Only 9% of the potential migrants has proper information, documents and money to emigrate
• The main destinations are France (32% of returnees), Spain (21%), and Italy (15%)
• Moroccans prefer long-term emigration: 53% of returnees stayed abroad more than 7 years
• Economic situation is the main declared reason for migration, but the level of economic well-being doesn’t influence the propensity to migration
• Most migrants work in hotels and restaurants, in construction and agriculture
• 60% of returnees worked at the time of the survey, while only 46% of potential migrants had a job, which suggest migration’s positive impact on employability
• 31% of returnees, mainly those with higher education, benefited from training while abroad
• 62% of migrants said they learnt a language or acquired other technical or professional skills, but only one third of migrants had their Moroccan qualifications officially recognised
• Some 45% migrants worked without contract abroad, which limited their entitlement to welfare or pension
• Migration doesn’t improve the standard of living of the returnees: 74% of them were poor
• Returnees are more entrepreneurial: 26% of returnees have their own business (compared to 20% among the rest) and 20% employ workers (compared with 7% among the rest)
• There is little awareness of the government’s programmes for migrants
• Moroccans return to their country mainly for family reasons (26%); only 5% come back to invest

 FULL ARTICLE 

Morocco Needs a New Social Contract to Promote Stability

Here is an article from The Nation on the need for a social contract in Morocco that addresses problems in a way that can support sustainable social peace.
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Morocco needs a new social contract to promote stability

Lahcen Achy
Nov 3, 2011

The social package implemented by the Moroccan government in the first few months of the year has cast a shadow over the preparation of next year's budget. The budget deficit is expected to be around 6 per cent of GDP by the end of the current fiscal year, a level unprecedented in the last decade.

The Moroccan government - in an attempt to preserve social peace and avoid any escalation in the protest movement sparked by the Arab Spring - increased civil servants' wages by about $70 (Dh260) a month, announced plans to hire more than 4,000 unemployed college graduates and doubled subsidies to preserve the price stability of fuel and basic consumer goods whose prices have risen considerably on the world market.

The worsening of the budget deficit in Morocco comes at a time of scarce liquidity in local banks and public dissatisfaction with the privatisation process, which has played a key role in the country's economy over the last few years by allowing the sale of public assets to keep pace with high public spending. The high interest rates on loans in international financial markets, due to the sovereign debt crisis and the repercussions of the Arab Spring, have seriously reduced the government's margin for manoeuvre.

The postponement of the budget law's approval ahead of critical legislative elections scheduled for the end of November reveals Morocco's vulnerability to structural imbalances. The country needs frank and transparent dialogue among the various stakeholders to come up with a social contract that ensures stability and balances current social demands and future economic growth goals. This requires an ambitious, yet realistic development strategy whose implementation may take years.

Policymakers need to focus on three structural distortions. First, Morocco suffers from a large trade deficit: it imports almost twice as much as it exports. This situation reflects the inability of Moroccan producers to compete globally and the inefficiency of economic policies that have failed to develop the local industrial sector and bolster its potential to compete in foreign markets. Morocco has grown accustomed to covering its increasing trade deficit with income from the tourism industry and remittances from emigrants, but these will both pose a challenge for the Moroccan economy over the coming years.

Despite their high resilience during the past decade, the long-term sustainability of remittances should not be taken for granted. New waves of emigrants are critical to support the continued growth of remittances. But policy barriers to Moroccans' traditional destinations have been increasing. The inability, so far, of the European Union's member states to develop a common migration policy has seriously impeded legal migration flows to Europe.

The ageing of former emigrants and the migration of entire families tend to cause a decline in remittances. New generations, born abroad, continue to remit, but less so than their parents' generation. Most of them have acquired the citizenship of their host countries and have different consumption and remitting habits.

More educated emigrants also tend to remit less and instead use their savings to invest in real estate in their country of residence.

And in the current climate, Europe's slow economic growth, high unemployment and austerity measures to reduce public deficits are likely to affect remittances negatively.

Morocco faces a second structural distortion because it will not be able to build a strong and competitive economy without a skilled and well-trained labour force. The government needs to allocate more human and financial resources to its adult literacy strategy to increase its efficiency and extend its coverage. Policymakers need to remove barriers to participation in literacy programmes and adapt their content and time schedules to fit the needs and desires of recipients.

The third structural weakness is that despite Morocco's efforts over the past decade, poverty rates have remained persistently high, particularly in rural zones, and inequality has been on an upwards trend. The poorest 10 per cent of the population accounts for 2.7 per cent of total consumption. At the other extreme, the richest 10 per cent makes up one-third of total consumption.

Consumption and income inequality are only part of the story, as inequality of ownership is even worse. Data on the distribution of agricultural land indicate that 5 per cent of farmers own one-third of all land.

Policymakers need to reinforce public redistribution policies to reduce inequality among individuals and territories. They should fight tax evasion, implement a more progressive taxation system and increase taxes on property and wealth. They also need to cancel full tax exemptions that benefit the entire agricultural sector, regardless of the size of a particular business and the income it generates. This exemption, which has been in force since the mid-1980s, is socially unfair and economically inefficient.

The next government, which will enjoy greater powers under the new constitution, should establish its priorities to ensure a balance between immediate popular demands and the requirements for economic growth based on human capital and the stimulation of investment, and to establish an equitable tax system to ensure a sustainable social peace.



Lahcen Achy is a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut