Unemployment has reached alarming levels and proportions in Morocco. Every year, more and more working people are being affected by this problem. The Moroccan labor force totals to about 10,347,000. Women constitute about 27.6% of the total work force. Of the 10,347,000, only about 8,977,000 are employed. The number of unemployed people far exceeds the one million barrier. The number of unemployed people stood at 1.37 million in August 1999. This is about 13.2% of the workforce. During the first two decades of independence, the Moroccon government had undertaken the task of employment. It had employed young graduates and students recognised by universities and institutions.
Since the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), the government has withdrawn from employment gradually. Currently, the private sector in Morocco is expected to take on the role of an employment creator, and provide jobs to thousands of people each year. The productive units in Morocco mainly consist of SMEs. These units provide jobs to a substantial portion of the population. Despite this, their contribution in the economy remains weak. The SMEs need support and backing in order to fulfill their responsibility as creators of employment. The role of SMEs in job creation has been reflected all over the world. These enterprises are key contributors to the economy. In the US, over 90% of the 11 million jobs are provided by SMEs.
The study will focus on finding the answer to one key question: Are SMEs a solution to solve the unemployment probelm, which is rampant in Morocco and Morocco Oriental? This question gives rise to a host of other questions that need answers: What are SMEs and how are they defined? Do the SMEs truly contribute to the creation of employment? What are the policies that were adopted to encourage the creation of SMEs in Morocco? What is the situation of SMEs in Morocco and Morocco Oriental?
To answer the questions on this subject this study will be divided into four chapters. The first chapter will be devoted to the definition and identification of the SME, its components and the difference between the small business, the informal sector and the artisanal sector. In the second chapter, will show the role of SMEs in creating employment, the role of intermediaries and integration policies to encourage the creation of SMEs. The third chapter will be devoted to the diagnosis of SMEs in Morocco and in the Oriental region. The fourth chapter will be devoted to the evaluation of various employment policies in Morocco, their limits and if there is the need for recommendations.
Small and medium enterprise (SME) is a unit of production and/or is an independent service delivery that meets a number of standards and measures. It employs a workforce not exceeding a specified level. It achieves a turnover ceiling. These determining factors are not unanimous over the world. They change from one economy to another.
Thus, SMEs have definitions in developed countries that are different and vary from those in developing countries. The SME is a problem in terms of its definition, because it does not have the same identity throughout the world. It changes the criterion of a pole to another and from one economy to another. Thus, its definition in Japan differs from that in France, and that of developed countries is not the same in developing countries. The SME does not have a universal definition.
Tags: Morocco; SME (small and medium enterprise); definition; policies adopted for creation of SME in Morocco
[...] Thus, the boundaries between informal and formal sector are very porous, which shows that these two sectors are interdependent including medium-sized formal businesses. How then is the informal sector defined? 2. the informal sector The informal sector is presented as a refuge sector, where one class of small modern enterprises, craft organized business, and institutions outside the law and regulations operate. The term "informal sector" was introduced in 1972 by the International Labor Office (ILO) as part of the research program on employment in Africa. The seven criteria used to characterize the informal sector were: 1. [...]
[...] The loan can only finance expenditure on the project. The amount of joint loan (granted by the credit institution) is attached to the project chosen in 90% of the total cost for a single project, or 10% of the borrower in that project, when it must be conducted in partnership or cooperative, but the loan amount cannot exceed the ceiling of one million Dhs. The loan is granted by the State to the tune of 45% of the cost of the investment with a minimum return of 12 years and maximum 15 years with a rate of per year. [...]
[...] - Create regional funds to support the development of SMEs. - Encourage and implement specialized agencies in venture capital , which would provide support to SMEs, and give the investor the impression to make collaboration with donors and not under the control of the bankers who care benefits to recover their loans. - Encourage those who operate in an informal setting to formalize their activities by adopting the facilities for them. - Combat smuggling by facilitating the creation of import and export units, and lowering tariffs on products subject to counterfeiting. [...]
[...] cit, Bouzid AZZOUZI: SME development strategy Morocco, op.cit. p See for example the study by Philippe Albert, Alain Fayolle and Stéphane Marion, "the evolution of the support system for entrepreneurship," French Management Review November-December 1994, pp: 100- 111 .And the Three Rivers Conference article Laurent Creton of the University of Paris VIII entitled "SMEs become in a changing world" article published in Journal of Industrial Economics 32, 2nd Quarter pp. 110- 117. Roger Machart Jacque: "Succeeding our SMEs." Dunod edition P Olivier Torres: "SMEs" op. [...]
[...] Thus, this definition will give a clear distinction between SMEs and large companies. This will subsequently develop policies for SMEs and avoid situations in which they are serving the larger units. SMEs play an important role in job creation, it is a necessary but not sufficient for the solution of the unemployment problem. While SMEs create jobs (mathematically it is easy to show that if a company creates 10 jobs would create 100 units in 1000) this is not verified in reality since the movements of employees between different SMEs are more important than the creation and / or net loss of SMEs. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
