Employability and Education Mismatch in the Moroccan Urban Workplace

Abstract

This study explores the skill demand and supply of the current Moroccan urban labor workforce. It seeks to understand the experience of skill mismatch, and how it affects employability. Using semi-structured interviews and a phenomenological approach, the study explores the nature of job queues as informed by recruiters and educators. A total of 27 interviews were conducted with recruits, recruiters, and university professors, all of whom were selected using a criterion-based approach coupled with snowball sampling. Over-education was affirmed among employees, and the findings yielded a crossover of skill sets. The job queue for a balanced labor market is oriented towards personal attitudes and capabilities related to the field of study. Finally, responses from both recruiters’ and professors’ interviews yielded a framework of education-job matches for the demand-supply sides, and oriented workplace-based employability.