This statistics department explained, in a note on the Moroccan job market, that the Moroccan unemployed active population slightly increased 1.1%, going up from 1,078,000 in the first quarter of 2008 to 1,090,000 people, 12,000 more jobless people.

The unemployment rate in urban areas fell from 14.7% to 14.1%, while this rate increased from 4% to 4.7% in the rural ones.

This phenomenon mainly concerned people aged between 15 and 24 and non diploma holders.

In February, a number of companies, mostly working in the textile and car industries, shed some 31,680 jobs, as the financial crisis has started creeping into Morocco's real economy.

These two sectors have been hit the most by the international financial crisis, as a result of a falling exterior demand. In January, the textile sector alone lost over 9,727 jobs.

The tourist and construction sectors have also started to feel the impact of the crisis, loosing a large number of jobs in February.

The construction and public works sector lost up to 2,965 jobs. Morocco's central bank, Bank Al Maghrib, also reported a 3.6% fall in cement sales, compared to the first two months of the previous year.