PATTERNS AND DIFFERENTIALS IN THE URBAN LABOR FORCE IN MOROCCO, 1980

This research analyses differentials between Morocco's largest city, Casablanca, and its other urban areas. Specifically, the differentials that are analyzed are the population labor force participation and the industrial and occupational structure of the employed population. Within this, emphasis is put on examining the female labor force. The methods of investigation are two-fold: a bivariate and a multivariate analysis. The bivariate analysis uses tools (rates, ratios etc...) widely adopted in demography, whilst mulivariate analysis is carried out with the multiple regression techniques, using ordinary least squares and logistic regression methods. This study concludes that higher activity rates in Casablanca are associated with both higher employment and unemployment ratios. It sheds light on the relationship between characteristics of an individual and his economic participation, and the time he spends at the job. Another interesting finding relates to migration. Though migrants are the predominant component of the urban population of Morocco, it is unexpectedly in the other urban areas, not Casablanca, that the higher proportion of active migrants is recorded. Migration was found to be a neutral factor in women's economic activity, but it affects that of men, especially in Casablanca. Education affects the economic participation of both sexes in the same way: the higher the individual's level of education, the higher is his/her likelihood of being in the labor market. Amongst other individual characteristics that were investigated, marital status revealed an interesting pattern: it acts in the opposite direction depending on sex. Marriage seems to encourage economic activity of men, but inhibits that of women. Deeper examination of the determinants of female labor force participation introduced variables that are related to household characteristics. Among these, the number of unemployed males and the number of other employed females in the household both significantly affect the likelihood of economic participation and the time worked during a year for women. The probability of female economic participation increases with the number of unemployed men in the household, while the number of weeks worked will be reduced. This finding illustrates the "additional workers hypothesis" for females as secondary workers.