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
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

A. IBOURK
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

A. IBOURK
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
t
StYtFtf xx


 (1)
Hazard function:









0
Pr
lim
1t
f
tft tTttT
ht Ft Stt

 


t
(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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A. IBOURK
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,
i
P

A. IBOURK
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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