Last month, on the outskirts of Rabat, the department of investment (DI) held its annual investment conference ‘The Fundamentals of Investment’ with a particular focus on human resources.
During the conference, the DI announced a strategy for developing an efficient education system and labor market policies adequate for the needs of economic development within the framework of the UN Development Program’s Millennium Development Goals.
The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Morocco has risen from $1.63 billion in 2005 to $2.24 billion in the first nine months of the year, excluding privatizations.
An Ernst & Young study on the country’s attractiveness, commissioned by the DI and presented during the conference, said that 46% of the 203 foreign companies surveyed found that the economic situation is more attractive than last year. A third of these companies have no presence in Morocco as of yet.
With inward investments flowing into the kingdom, the strain on the labor market, especially on qualified human resources, has emerged as an important challenge.
The country is facing a potential shortage of qualified engineers, with an increasing number of companies competing for a limited pool.
“One of Morocco’s comparative advantages, the availability of engineers at a good price, risks being eroded,” said Hassan Bernoussi, the DI’s director.
Engineers wanted
Employers in the tourism, textile and agricultural industries, as well as in new sectors such as electronics, automobiles and aeronautics will add to the demand for engineers. A cooperation agreement between the IT Industry Association and the government has identified a need for 30,000 IT engineers within the next 10 years.
For instance, the Casashore project, an outsourcing complex, is expected to create jobs for 1,500 engineers over the next three years.
“We are moving increasingly towards an information economy, where knowledge is becoming a determining factor for success,” said Rachid Belmokhtar, president of Al-Akhawayn University and head of the scientific committee of the conference. During the conference, the government revealed its intention to train 10,000 engineers a year until 2010, by creating engineering programs in the universities and by encouraging cooperation between universities and engineering schools. The prime minister’s office has nominated the Telecommunications Regulation Agency to organize the program.
Increasing graduates
The government intends to increase the number of graduating engineers to 9,000 a year by 2010. An additional 600 professionals will be trained as engineers and 400 engineers are expected to migrate to Morocco every year until the end of the decade. This summer, 24.4% of graduates remained unemployed, ready to be retrained.
The private sector is also poised to play a pivotal role in the training of professionals. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest exporter, recently concluded an agreement with the government of Morocco.
TCS will set up a 500-employee offshore delivery center catering to French and Spanish speaking parts of Europe, which will become operational in January 2007. The company will provide IT training services in the kingdom that will help create over 25,000 jobs in the offshore center by 2010.
Europe remains the main source of inward FDI, with an 89% share in 2005. However, growing investments by countries such as the US (predominantly in services and real estate) and Gulf states (in construction and real estate) are changing this trend.
Considering the growing interest by new investors, the DI decided to re-brand itself as ‘Invest in Morocco’ in order to focus exclusively on its role as an investment promotion agency.
