Young Graduate Cooperatives in Morocco: Achievements and Problems

doi:10.4236/ce.2012.326157

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Creative Education

2012. Vol.3, Special Issue, 1043-1052

Published Online October 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.326157

Young Graduate Cooperatives in Morocco: Achievements

and Problems

Aomar Ibourk

Research Group of Social Economics, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco

Email: [email protected]

Received September 18th, 2012; revised October 12th, 2012; accepted October 24th, 2012

This paper examines the real ability of the cooperative sector to ensure its central role. Hence, the objec-

tive of this research is to discover the several contingencies that weigh on this sector, through examina-

tion of national databases and qualitative surveys. Methodologically, this work combines, in a comple-

mentary manner, both quantitative and the qualitative approaches. The constructed databases allow en-

hancement of the innovative scope of analysis for studying the survival determinants of cooperatives.

These questions, largely overlooked in the literature, are studied by means of limited dependent variable

models.

Keywords: Cooperatives; Young Graduates; Survival Function; Morocco

Introduction

It is well-known that the simultaneity of primary insertion

unemployment and long-run unemployment, among new gra-

duates, has an impact on the collective side as well as the indi-

vidual side. This kind of situation is, in many regards, an over-

whelming experience for unemployed graduates. It raises several

questions due to its important impact on both the economy and

society. Economically, the question concerns the individual and

collective valuation of human capital investments. Persistent

difficulties in getting a job produce not only an opportunity cost

for the economy but also promote the emergence of negative

individual attitudes regarding human capital investment. This

leads to a national economy that is competitively weak. Socially,

the basic foundations of social equilibrium are considerably dam-

aged by increasing the probability of social exclusion, extended

unemployment periods compromise dominant redistribution

systems based on intra- and intergenerational transfers between

family members (Bougroum & Ibourk, 2002a, 2002b, 2003).

Long-term unemployment prevents the family from taking its

role as insurance against unemployment and old age.

To fight against the persistence of graduate unemployment,

decision makers must consider employment policy (Ibourk,

2010). The gap between job creation in the public sector and

the growth of the graduate labor supply, tends to get wider and

wider, and so the initiated employment policy aims to facilitate

the graduates’ insertion in the private sector. The Moroccan

government, through the Office de Développement et de Coopé-

ration (hereafter ODCO), places considerable importance on

the promotion of Young Graduate Cooperatives (hereafter YGC),

which are supposed to play a tremendous role both economi-

cally and socially. Indeed, the cooperative sector is seen as an

alternative entry which offers strong advantages for young un-

employed graduates, and especially for those who have been

affected by endemic unemployment such as, for instance,

graduates of a more general curriculum (i.e., Bachelor’s degree

in literature, law, economics or sciences). At the end of 2011,

289 YGC were created (ODCO, 2012) absorbing 3252 gradu-

ates (an average of 11 members per cooperative) and raising a

capital of 44,644,703 MAD (an average of 154,480 MAD per

cooperative and 13,737 per adherent). However, despite the

government’s efforts, development of such cooperatives is still

below expectations because it should be noted that there is un-

fortunately a significant proportion of inactive cooperatives.

The determinants of such inactivity are related to a juridical, an

organizational and material reasons. Additionally, due to the

contingencies that weigh heavily on the cooperative actions,

their behavioral logics should receive much more attention.

Taking these factors into account, this paper examines the

real ability of this sector in order to insure its central role. The

objective of this research is thus to find out about the several

contingencies that weigh on this sector through national data-

bases and qualitative surveys. Methodologically, this work

combines, in a complementary manner, both quantitative and

qualitative approaches. The constructed databases allows to

enhance the innovative scope of the analysis by studying the

survival determinants of cooperatives. These questions, largely

overlooked in the literature, are studied by means of limited

dependent variable models.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. In Sec-

tion 1, the features of the Moroccan graduate labor market are

discussed. Section 2 is dedicated to the theoretical analysis

(cooperative’s identity and entrepreneurial motivations) as well

as a description of the cooperative’s organization. Finally, in

Section 3, a spatial analysis of the cooperative sector is under-

taken in combination with an econometric analysis that aims to

identify some elements in order to initiate debate on the valua-

tion of this sector. The policy making implications are dis-

cussed in the conclusion.

Characteristics of the Moroccan Graduate

Labor Market

The major trends of the graduate labor market can be cap-

tured by means of indicators of labor supply and demand as

well as the disequilibrium, which characterizes this two compo-

A. IBOURK

nents, which is measured by the long-run unemployment and

the exclusion unemployment.

Labor Demand Growth

The Moroccan economy doesn’t create enough jobs to absorb

either existent unemployment stock or the flow of new gradu-

ates entering, every year, the labor market. In fact, the job crea-

tion process doesn’t fit graduates. Net job creation, on average,

was around 185,300 jobs per year between 2000 and 2004

(growth rate = 4.36%) and 155,400 jobs per year between 2005

and 2010 (growth rate = 4.55%). As the graphic shows below,

the jobs (employees declared including to the National Social

Security Fund CNSS), during the 2000-2010 decade, grew at a

slow pace relative to the current GDP and more particularly to

the GFCF, which recorded both higher increases.

At this level, the challenge posed is related to a higher

growth that creates good quality jobs. The labor demand struc-

ture is dominated by low-skilled workers (i.e., workers without

any diploma) who represent 65.5% of the global job in 2010.

The portion of medium degree holders moved from 18.4% to

23.7% between 2000 and 2010. On the other hand, the share of

high degree holders evolved from 8.4% to 10.8% for the same

period.

As Table 1 indicates, unlike skilled workers, workers with

medium or without any degrees are the ones who take advan-

tage of the net job creation. The labor market has also been

marked, these last years, by a job growing salarization.

A Relatively High Rate of Unempl o yme nt

The structure of unemployed population by degree level

shows that degree holders are the most affected by unemploy-

ment, particularly higher education graduates.

According to Table 2, the rate of graduate unemployment

was about 18.1% in 2010, nearly a quarter of global unemploy-

ment. The rate of unemployment for medium degree holders

was relatively lower: 16%. On the other side, the proportion of

low-skilled unemployed doesn’t exceed 4.5%. Moreover, ana-

lyzing unemployment by type of diploma reveals that the

graduate population is highly heterogeneous. Indeed, Table 3

shows that the rate of unemployment of university and high

school graduates remains very high, but graduates from schools

(Grandes Ecoles) and higher institutes do not suffer very much

from unemployment, with only 3.9% unemployed.

A Dramatic Exclusion Une mplo ymen t

It is interesting to see, that unemployed graduates are the

ones who suffer the most from long-term unemployment, which

is 77% compared with 44% for the unemployed without any

degree. The average unemployment duration was around 32

months in 2010 (Figure 1). Actually, the higher the degree the

more likely its holder will be unemployed. Higher education

graduates can be unemployed for around 40 months. In other

words, before getting a job, they will wait 17 months more than

an unemployed person without a degree and 6 months more

than a medium degree holder. Note that the gender gap tends to

decrease with the degree level.

Several factors can explain this fact: 1) the structural excess

of supply leads to a selective labor market; 2) the state, which

used to be the first job provider, wants to give away that role; 3)

Table 1.

Job structure by degree.

Education level199619971998 2000 20042010

Without degree60.858.256.4 73.3 72 65.5

Medium degree25.526.928.0 18.4 19.823.7

Higher education13.714.915.6 8.4 8.2 10.8

Note: Source: Directorate of statistics.

Table 2.

Unemployment by degree.

Part of labor force aged 15 and overShare of unemployed population Rate of unemployment

1999 2010 1999 2010 1999 2010

National

Without degree 0.69 0.62 0.4 0.30 8.1 4.5

Medium degree 0.21 0.26 0.41 0.45 27 16

Higher education 0.10 0.12 0.19 0.24 27.6 18.1

Urban

Without degree 0.51 0.43 0.35 0.25 15.2 8.1

Medium degree 0.32 0.35 0.43 0.47 30.3 18.5

Higher education 0.17 0.21 0.21 0.27 27.2 17.5

Rural

Without degree 0.89 0.83 0.62 0.51 3.8 2.4

Medium degree 0.10 0.15 0.3 0.38 16 9.8

Higher education 0.01 0.02 0.08 0.11 34.1 26

Note: Source: Directorate of statistics, 1999 and 2010.

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Table 3.

Unemployment by degree.

National Urban



1995 2000 2010 1995 2000 2010

No diploma 10.6 7.1 4.5 16.5 13.1 8.1

Diploma in basic education 27.9 25.8 14.9 29.7 30.3 17.4

Diploma of secondary education 30.3 35 20.4 30.1 35.5 20.5

Degrees awarded by the faculties 36.6 35.1 22.3 35.7 33.2 21.3

Tertiary qualification (N. C. Faculties) 10.9 N. D. N. D. 10.9 N. D. N. D.

Technician diploma and middle management 17.5 20.3 17.7 17.2 20.8 17.2

Higher technical diploma 31.1 N. D. N. D. 31.1 N. D. N. D.

Professional degree (qualification) 48.6 30.9 21.1 48.5 31.5 21.7

Professional degree (specialization) 32.6 38 32 34.1 40.1 34

National 16 13.6 9.1 22.9 21.5 13.7

Note: Source: Directorate of statistics, 1995, 2000 and 2010.

44.0

67.7

77.6

62.8

32.5

61.8

75.8

48.5 50.0

68.9

77.8

66.5

020 40 60 80

in %

National RuralUrban

Without degree Medium degree

Higher education Total

Figure 1.

Proportions of long-term unemployment by degree. Notes: Directorate

of statistics, 2010.

a mismatch between some degrees and skills needed by firms.

Currently, the private sector is assumed not only to offset the

gap generated by the public sector, but also to be the center-

piece of the labor market. The Moroccan economy is charac-

terized by small and micro-enterprises (e.g., in 2008, 78.8% of

employees worked in enterprises employing less than 9 people)

that have a low capacity to generate employment, the informal

sector accounts for 40.8% of employment outside agriculture

and governmental jobs. Obviously, the causes of unemploy-

ment are multidimensional. They affect both labor supply and

demand, they are economic, institutional, social and demo-

graphic. One can also add the role of the inconsistency of edu-

cational system. Graduate unemployment is translated to a

rapid depreciation of human capital. Unemployment, being

more frequent at the entry into working life, strongly reduces

the chances for young people to realize their initial professional

projects based on graduation. This situation generates youth

feelings of discouragement and/or dissatisfaction that are diffi-

cult to eliminate even when access to employment is granted.

In the last years, employment policy in favor of graduates

went through three phases:

 Phase 1 (1993-1997): the strategy was determined by the

work of the National Council for Youth and the Future.

 Phase 2 (1998-2005): the strategy was led by the works of

the first meetings on employment held in Marrakesh in

1998.

 Phase 3 (from 2005): the strategy was inspired by the second

meeting: “Initiatives-Employment”, held in 2005. The focus

was on developing an economic policy that would generate

not only wealth but also job opportunities, through launch-

ing several development and modernization projects in order to

build an economy that was strong, structured and compete-

tive.

Youth Graduate Cooperatives

This section is divided into two parts: the first is a brief lite-

rature review of cooperative identity notion and entrepreneu-

rial motivations. The second part is focused on the descriptive

analysis of YGC in Morocco.

Cooperative Identity and Entrepreneurial

Motivations

Cooperative identity finds its essence in several cooperation

principles: voluntary adhesion, exercising democratic principles

by all members, economic participation of members, autonomy,

training and engagement. Cooperatives provide a myriad of

advantages in the sense that they can be regarded as an efficient

solution against market failure and also an alternative to capi-

talistic firms limits. Furthermore, the cooperative principles and

values alleviate opportunist behaviors and information asym-

metry between members, because confidence is the centerpiece

of cooperation. All these elements have a positive impact on

transactions and agency costs, and mutual aid between mem-

bers helps cooperatives to be a powerful instrument against

market excess. Moreover, their financial performance is

strengthened due to the fact that cooperative capital is con-

structed within communities (solidarity, responsibility and con-

fidence). The participative approach adopted by cooperatives

leads to an efficient and responsible use of resources by

autonomous members. In fact, social efficiency is carried out

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by the strong links that communities have. One can also iden-

tify another advantage, according to CoopZone, inspired by

cooperative model philosophy.

This model provides moderate income to every member in-

stead of generating huge wealth for the benefit of a minority. It

helps also to strengthen community ties, thanks to mutual aid,

by leading community members to define their own needs.

Thus, goods and services are produced for community members

and by community members. From this perspective, managerial

practice is driven by ethics and production does not follow the

homogenization rule of the mass market.

Several studies have also focused on entrepreneurial motiva-

tion. A closer look at this literature suggests that individual mo-

tivation to become an entrepreneur is often complex and can be

seen from many angles. Entrepreneurial motivations can be

divided into two categories, push and pull. The motives which

compel a future entrepreneur to start their new project, are

called push factors. These factors, which can be personal or

exogenous, have a negative connotation on the individual tra-

jectory. Unlike push factors, pull factors are positive and are

based on incentives such as business opportunities or partner-

ship. Nonetheless, this typology is not unique; one can use

other categories to define entrepreneurial motivations such as,

for example, autonomy and economic necessity.

Entrepreneurial motivations can be summarized into four

major categories: independence desire, monetary motivation,

family factors and work factors. These categories are very

compelling and straightforward. Indeed, the basic motive behind

the desire to be an entrepreneur is independence. Along with

monetary motivations, a desire for independence is considered

to be a deterrent factor while work factors are seen as incen-

tives. However, family factors have a mixed impact due to

problems combining regular work and domestic work, and to

the desire to find equilibrium between family and work.

Descriptive Analysis of YG Cs

Sectoral and Spatial Concentration. The growth of coopera-

tives was estimated at a rate of 137.12% during the 2000-2010

period. Table 4 below shows that the number of cooperatives

increased constantly from year to year, moving from 3815 units

in 2000 to 9046 units in 2010 (ODCO, 2012).

The Dynamic of YGCs—YGC evolution was very volatile

during this last decades. According to data, the number of

YGCs decreased dramatically from 1996 to 2004 then increased

from 2005 to 2008 and finally decreased again from 2009 to

2012. For the same period, the number of adherents followed a

more volatile evolution similar to a saw tooth pattern.

Figure 2 shows that average number of members for each

new cooperation decreasing since 2004.

Figure 3 shows that four areas contain over 83% of estab-

lishment of cooperation (the agriculture, literacy, forests and

crafts).

There has been a large series of measures to stimulate YGC

creation: organization of workshops and awareness campaigns

to promote cooperatives, facilitating loan access to fund coope-

rative projects, supervision during the period of constitution of

fiscal exoneration. Hence, helping young graduates to build

their projects relies upon:

 support and capacity of building for cooperative managers in

vital fields such as management, marketing and finance;

 technical support from different ministerial departments and

national or international NGOs;

 supporting and encouraging the marketing of goods and

services produced by cooperatives by means of: labeling,

local product support, organizing exhibitions of social eco-

nomic products nationally and regionally, opening super-

markets specialized in cooperative products;

 the access of subsidies granted by governments or NGOs.

Figure 4 shows that 80% of cooperatives are located in re-

gion 7 (Class A).

510 15 20 25 30

Average number of members for each new cooperation

1995 2000 2005 2010

Yea r

Figure 2.

Average number of members for each new cooperative.

Table 4.

Evolution of cooperative and its adherents from 2000 to 2010.

Years No. of cooperatives Growth rate No. of adherents Growth rate Average adherents per cooperatives

2000 3815 - - - -

2002 4277 12.11% 267,466 - 63

2004 4827 12.86% 317,289 18.63% 66

2006 5276 9.30% 324,239 2.19% 61

2008 6286 19.14% 347,684 7.23% 55

2010 7804 24.15% 380,144 9.34% 49

2011 9046 15.91% 399,558 5.11% 44

Note: Source: ODCO, statistical yearbook of cooperatives 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. ODCO, “Attaaaoun” review n 89, winter 2009 and n 100.

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Figure 3.

Cooperatives repartition by sector.

Figure 4.

Cooperatives repartition by region.

Socio-Economic Environment and YGC

Dynamic: Spatial and Econometric Analysis

In this section, the objective is to analyze the link between

regional socio-economic environment and the dynamics of the

YGC sector by means of two approaches: Agglomerative Hier-

archical Clustering (AHC) and Principal Components Analysis

(PCA).

The first step consists of realizing a typology based on key

indicators for the cooperative sector (by region): the coopera-

tives as a whole, the number of YGCs and finally the number of

women’s cooperatives (Table 5). The second step is inherent to

the characterization of constructed clusters by other cooperative

indicators such as the number of active YGCs, the number of

inactive YGCs and the number of YGCs working in the literacy

sector. The third step consists of building a socio-economic

cartography for regions based on indicators of a socio-eco-

nomic nature such as the rate of unemployment, the rate of

activity, the rate of poverty and the rate of alphabetization. The

goal here is to explain the impact of socio-economic factors on

cooperative activity. Finally, an econometric model is estimated

in order to analyze the inactivity of YGCs, which remains an

important feature of the Moroccan cooperative sector.

Clustering by Regions

First Cluster: this cluster contains only one region: Souss-

Massa-Darâa. The characteristic of this region is the prevalence

of women’s cooperatives, nearly 22% of all women’s coopera-

tives. Indeed, this is largely due to the expansion of argan co-

operatives (Elghiat, 2011).

Second cluster: there are four regions: Doukkala-Abda,

Meknès-Tafilalet, Oriental and Tanger-Tétouan. In this cluster,

the number of YGCs is considerable. The statistics show that

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Table 5.

AHC results indicate 4 clusters.

Clusters Region

First Cluster Souss-Massa-Darâa

Doukkala-Abda

Meknès-Tafilalet

Oriental

Second cluster

Tanger-Tétouan

Third cluster Grand Casablanca

Chaouia-Ouardigha

Fès-Boulmane

Gharb-Chrarda-BniHssen

Marrakech-Tansift-Al Haouz

Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaër

Région du Sud

Tadla-Azilal

Fourth cluster

Taza-Al Houceima-Taounate

Source: Author calculations.

50% of all cooperatives are YGC, containing 1708 members,

(Zouhir, 2011) oriented mainly towards agriculture. Neverthe-

less, inactivity remains high in this cluster with a rate of 50%.

Third cluster: has only one region (Grand Casablanca), this is

the weakest cluster in term of cooperatives, with a figure (232)

that represents only 2.72% of total cooperatives. Note that

women’s cooperatives are dominant in this cluster.

Fourth cluster: this cluster contains eight regions: Chaouia-

Ouardigha, Gharb-Chrarda-BniHssen, Fès-Boulmane, Marra-

kech-Tansift-Al Haouz, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaër, Région du

Sud, Tadla-Azilal and Taza-Al Houceima-Taounate. It consists

of regions marked by middle performance based on cooperative

indicators. Note also that most cooperatives in this cluster work

in the literacy sector.

Descriptive Analysis of YG Cs

The factorial axes summarize 62.15% of the information so

that a better representation of proximities between regions will

be obtained. That is, the analysis of the diagram of components

in the space after rotation allows us to interpret the factorial

axes. The first places the richest regions against the poorer ones

while the second axes reflects regions characterized by a preva-

lence of agriculture cooperative inactivity.

Relying on Figure 5, one can draw the following conclu-

sions:

 First cluster: it is important to notice that this region suffers

from a high rate of poverty and analphabetism that exceeds

the national average. As seen earlier, the first cluster is

marked by the prevalence of women’s cooperatives due to

argan exploitation. In fact, the region’s activity relies largely

on agriculture which provides 14.1% of the national live-

stock. Furthermore, a tradition called “Jmaa”, in rural areas

such as this region, leads people (especially women) to work

together in order to overcome difficulties that face the

community. The combination of the “Jmaa” tradition with a

deteriorated socio-economic environment has contributed to

the development of women’s cooperatives. In 2010, there

were 170 women’s cooperatives work in agriculture and

more particularly in Argan exploitation (Elghiat, 2011).

 Second Cluster: the second cluster is characterized by me-

dium socio-economic conditions and the prevalence of ag-

ricultural activity. Adding the high rate of cooperative inac-

tivity, it is clear that young graduates face a number of con-

straints (Zouhir, 2011). However, it is important to underline

that more efforts must be considered in order to improve

cooperative conditions because job opportunities in these

regions are very poor. Thus, self-employment by creating

cooperatives could be a reliable option.

 Third cluster: the region of Grand Casablanca is known for

its lack of cooperatives compared to other regions. Actually,

this can be explained by the wealthy socio-economic condi-

tions (a GDP per capita of 35300 MAD) and a high rate of

urbanization (92.02%), because cooperative creation has a

positive link with weak socio-economic conditions.

 Fourth cluster: with a high rate of analphabetism, it is clear

that most cooperatives are oriented towards literacy. The

reason behind this is simple. Indeed, the major need of this

community is to fight against analphabetism, so it is natural

that most cooperatives work in that field.

The analysis of the impact of socio-economic conditions on

the cooperative sector shows that the number of cooperatives

increases with poor socio-economic conditions. However, one

should not forget that the conditions inherent to creating a co-

operative are still deterrents. For instance, the second cluster,

which contains the most YGC, suffers from a high rate of inac-

tivity (Figure 6). This conclusion leads us to the second part of

this section that seeks to study more closely the problem of

inactivity, through an econometric model.

YGC’s Dysfunctions: Inactivity and Chal lenges

It is necessary to examine the determinants of YGC inactivity. In

the presence of censured data, duration analysis methods are the

most efficient choice. Let Y0 be a random variable that repre-

sents the duration of a cooperative coming from a homogene-

ous population whose characteristics correspond to the null

values of explanatory variables. Y0 is assumed to follow a

known distribution. The distribution probability of Y0, called

base distribution, may be specified as follows:

Survival function:

 

Pr 1d

StYtFtf xx





 (1)

Hazard function:



















lim

tft tTttT

ht Ft Stt



 





(2)

Survival Functions Relative to Cooperative Size. Figure 7

shows that there is a positive relationship between cooperative

survival and the number of cooperative members. Indeed, the

more members, the better change the cooperative has of sur-

viving longer.

Survival Functions Based on Creation Date. As indicated in

Figure 8, the young create cooperatives in order to benefit from

subsidies since the probability of inactivity was higher after

establishment of the National Human Development Initiative

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Figure 5.

Regional socio-economic cartograph.

Determinants of Cooperatives Inactivity: A Discrete

Choice Model Approach

(hereafter INDH). Therefore, massive cooperative creation can

be seen in the regions that provide subsidies granted by NGOs

or governmental programs. This fact does not help the real

development of cooperatives, it instead increases the spirit of

assistantship and dependence on government and NGOs. In that

framework, the creation of cooperatives is no longer spontane-

ous in the sense that it is generated rather by an impulsion of

government departments and NGOs rather than by the will of

people to cooperate. Unfortunately, one can easily observe the

existence of ghost cooperatives that have never been active.

Survival Functions by Sector. Figure 9 shows that cooperatives

operating in the sectors of agriculture and literacy are those

with the best lifetimes.

As we saw earlier, inactivity remains one of the biggest prob-

lems that cooperatives encounter. For instance, the second

cluster, which contains the majority of YGC, records a rate of

inactivity of 50%. Understanding the determinants of inactivity

is therefore vital. In order to achieve this, a discrete choice

model is used. The estimated model is as follows:





Pr 1

iii i

PZXX







 





 (3)

where is the conditional probability of being inactive,

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010 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

in %

1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

Year

Figure 6.

Rate of cooperative inactivity.

0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00

020 40 60

analysis time

ad = 1ad = 2

Taille petite/taille moyenne

Fonctions de survies selon le nombre d'adhé rents

Figure 7.

Survival function by number of adherents.

0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00

020 40 60

analysis time

an = 1an = 2

Avant INDH/aprés INDH

Fonctions de survies selon la date de création

Figure 8.

Survival function bycreation date.



 is the repartition function of disturbance term



and



is the vector of parameters to be estimated. This model esti-

mates the probability of YGC becoming inactive in regards to

the situation of being active. The results are shown in Table 6.

At first, size plays a tremendous role in the perenniality of

cooperatives, this is what is commonly called the too big to fail

effect. Indeed, the bigger the cooperative, the lower the proba-

bility of being inactive.

Furthermore, the dynamic behind the creation of coopera-

tives is carried out by the INDH and other programs that pro-

mote cooperatives. It is notable that the creation of cooperatives

increased considerably with the advent of INDH and especially

0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00

020 40 60

analysis time

sec = 1sec = 2

sec = 3

agriculture/aplhabetisation/autres

Fonctions de survies selon le secteur

Figure 9.

Survival function by sector.

Table 6.

Results of regression.

coef sig

Constant −0.52 ns

Activity sector

Other 0.8

***

Agriculture Ref Ref

Literacy 0.26 ns

Regions

L’Oriental −1.62 ****

Meknès Tafilalet 2.37 ****

Tanger Tétouan 0.07 ns

Autresrégions Ref Ref

Number of adherents

[0,7] Ref Ref

More than 7 −0.04 ***

Creation date of the cooperative

Before 2005 (before INDH) Ref Ref

after 2005 (après INDH) −2.09 ****

Capital −0.001 ns

Note: ***sig 1%; ***sig 5%; Note: Ref: reference. ns: not significant.

in areas where the creation of cooperatives would benefit from

subsidies and other financial aids. Nonetheless, subsidies are

not conceived by adherents as a means to achieve a goal (crea-

tion of a cooperative) but an end in itself. Cooperatives are

created where subsidies and financial aids are available. There

are even some cooperatives that remain inactive until a subsidy

is given to them. Unfortunately, this not only damages the co-

operative sector but enhances the spirit of assistantship within

the cooperative community. On the other hand, government

bodies promote cooperatives where they are needed the most.

For example, to fight against smuggling in the north, or to pre-

serve argan trees in the south. But what the government doesn’t

1050

A. IBOURK

seem to understand is that the population of members is too

heterogeneous to lead a coherent action. A careful study of

individual trajectories may therefore be a powerful tool to de-

termine pertinent categories. Cooperatives also deal with several

problems related to member retention (Barraud-Didier and

Henninger, 2009). Actually, one can seethe opportunism of

members: the relationship between members and their coopera-

tives has certainly changed. This leads to a weak or even inac-

tive cooperative due to a lack of fidelity from its adherents.

This econometric analysis confirms the conclusions raised by

the previous typological analysis insofar as both analyses shed

light on the prevalence of inactivity in the cooperative sector. In

addition, the econometric analysis identifies some determinants

of cooperative inactivity in Morocco such as the size of the

activity sector as well as the creation date. Furthermore, a my-

riad of constraints are affecting the cooperative sector and more

especially the YGC. Several conclusions can be drawn based on

a qualitative survey of the cooperative sector:

 A member’s professional trajectory is marked by long-term

unemployment along with the absence of professional ex-

perience. Getting involved with cooperatives is thus basi-

cally motivated by the desire to escape from unemployment

toa form of self-employment, for lack of a better option. In

fact, the main reason behind creating cooperatives is receipt

of assistance (i.e., subsidies). From this perspective, little

importance is accorded to managerial practice. Unfortu-

nately, some cooperatives are badly managed and produce

outcomes below expectation due to member skills. Others

are managed without any strategy or planning, even though

funding is reliable. Worst of all, several cooperatives do not

held meetings of governing bodies and suffer from unskilled

human resources.

 When asked about their jobs in cooperatives, almost half the

members responded that they were unsatisfied with their job

conditions. Difficulties inherent to administrative and logis-

tic problems cannot be overcome, cooperative incomes are

very low and cooperation between members is hard to settle.

It is therefore not surprising that over 60% of cooperative

members are looking for another job. No doubt that this

situation causes a sort of detachment between members and

their cooperative. Moreover, cooperatives suffer from a lack

of competitiveness, and there are many reasons for this:

cooperatives cannot reach many markets and also suffer

from a rude competition. There is huge lack of synergy be-

tween them. Finally, since most cooperatives are located in

remote areas, where infrastructure leaves much to be desired,

the costs of supply and delivery are very high.

Conclusion and Implications

The priority of professional insertion of young graduates is

needed for mainly two reasons. First, unemployment is not

socially acceptable. Second, this phenomenon has harmful effects

on both economy and society. The magnitude of graduate un-

employment in the new Moroccan labor market framework has

led the government to intensify and to diversify their inter-

ventions in terms of employment policy. YGCs are considered

an alternative pathway, but unfortunately their performance is

still below expectations.

YGCs are oriented towards promising activities such as lite-

racy, accounting, e-trade, telecommunications, medicinal and

aromatic plants, as well as tourism. Sectoral analysis showed

that there is a strong concentration in agriculture (140 entities)

followed by the literacy sector (59 entities), forests (21 entities),

the craft industry (20 entities) and transport (15 entities). These

five sectors include over 88% of total cooperatives. On the

other hand, spatial analysis reveals a strong disparity between

regions. Indeed, 73% of Moroccan cooperatives are concen-

trated in only six regions: Oriental (19.38%), Meknes-Tafilalet

16.61%, Tan-giers-Tetouan 12.80%, Fes-Boulmane 12.80%,

Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zair 7.27% and Gharb-Chrarda-Bni-Hssen

6.92%.

However, considering the problems encountered by the co-

operative sector, it is clear that these entities do not play amply

their role. Most members are not satisfied with their job condi-

tions within the cooperatives and are looking actively for other

jobs, leading to a lack of interest in their current job. In addition,

cooperatives are not well-managed and are economically weak.

Policy makers should readopt their actions in order to resolve

the problem by sufficiently training managers and adopting

results-based financial aids among other measures. There is no

need to recall that cooperatives, which work in proper condi-

tions, offer a lot of advantages to the society as a whole:

through efficient self-employment, young graduates will not

only escape from unemployment but will also help their com-

munity to achieve numerous goals (fulfilling specific needs,

fighting against analphabetism etc.). Unfortunately, if every-

thing remains the same, cooperatives are doomed to failure; and

so, a promising lever of social development is wasted.

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