Wages: The public/private match

The civil service generally pays better than the private sector. The gap between the two sectors is significant: the average monthly salary in the private sector stands at 5,292 Dirhams (USD 529) gross in 2021 versus 8,237 Dirhams (USD 824) net in the civil service. These averages hide great disparities in the two sectors. In any case, half of private sector employees earn less than 2,865 Dirhams (USD 286) (median salary). During this year, the economy grew by 7.9%, the strongest growth since 1997. In addition to the basic effect, this performance can be explained by several factors, including the launch of a stimulus program for a budget of 120 billion Dirhams (USD 12 billion) . Activity exceeded its pre-crisis level in several sectors, notably construction and retail, while the recovery remained partial in certain branches such as manufacturing industries. In this context, “wages in the private sector fell by 1.2%, after an increase of 3.2% in 2020, in nominal terms and of 2.5% versus an increase of 2.5% in real terms. In the public service, wages have maintained their growth rate at 1.8% in nominal terms and increased by 0.4% instead of 1.2% in real terms”, according to the 2021 report of Bank Al-Maghrib, the Moroccan central bank. In other words, wages in the private sector have slowed down relative to the public sector.

That said, the comparison between the two sectors remains delicate, especially since they follow two different remuneration logics.

The public sector is managed by a complex system of grades, scales, and ranks. In the private sector, everything depends on the line of business, the position, the size of the company, the education, the workload, and also the experience. The two sectors are also at different levels in terms of minimum wage. The one in force in the public service greatly exceeds the minimum wage granted by private companies. In the public sector, the minimum wage has undergone significant changes under the pressure of negotiations carried out by the unions within the framework of social dialogue. The minimum wage went from 2,800 Dirhams (USD 280) in 2011 to 3,000 Dirhams ( USD 300) in 2014 before reaching 3,362 Dirhams in 2021. Last year the minimum wage in the civil service reached 3,500 dirhams. On the other hand, in the private sector the minimum wage stood at 14.81 Dirhams (USD 1.5) per hour in 2021, which represents 2,829 Dirhams per month. The minimum hourly wage has been increased by 5% in 2022 to 15.55 DH and should increase to 16.3 Dirhams next September. However, the private sector cannot catch up with the public service. The distribution of the number of salaried employees and that of civil servants also differs according to the pay bracket. Thus 8.55% of civil servants received a net monthly salary of between 3,000 and 4,000 Dirhams in 2021, 23.83% between 4,000 and 6,000 and 31.63 between 6,000 and 8,000 Dirhams. In the private sector, the statistics of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) reflect the low remuneration of a large segment of employees. More than 4 in 10 employees have average monthly wages that are lower than the minimum wage, i.e. 2,829 Dirhams, and 55% are at less than 3,000 DH. The 2021 demographic report also reveals that 85% of employees are declared by their employers as earning less than 6,000 Dirhams, i.e. the ceiling level on the basis of which CNSS contributions are calculated.

Khadija MASMOUDI