The unemployment rate increased by 2 points between the first quarters of 2020 and 2021, from 10.5% to 12.5%, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP). This rate recorded a sharp increase in both rural and urban areas, rising respectively from 3.9% to 5.3% and from 15.1% to 17.1%, said the HCP in a note on the labor market situation in Q1-2021. It also posted a sharp increase among women (3.2 points), from 14.3% to 17.5%, and among young people aged 15 to 24 (5.7 points), from 26.8%. to 32.5%, added the same source, noting that the unemployment rate of graduates has, for its part, recorded an increase of 2 points, from 17.8% to 19.8%. The note also highlighted that the number of unemployed people increased by 242,000 people between the first quarter of 2020 and that of 2021, from 1,292,000 to 1,534,000, which corresponds to an increase of 19%. This increase is the result of an increase of 185,000 unemployed people in urban areas and 57,000 in rural areas. In addition, the volume of underemployment, in its two components, increased during this period from 954,000 people to 988,000, from 531,000 to 552,000 in cities and from 423,000 to 435,000 in the countryside. The rate of underemployment fell from 8.8% to 9.2%, at the national level, from 8.7% to 8.9% in urban areas and from 8.9% to 9.6% in rural areas. The underemployment rate for men (10.2%) is almost twice that of women (5.6%). In urban areas, it is 9% against 8.3% for women and in rural areas, it is almost 5 times higher among men with 12% than among women (2.5%).
