840,000 jobs in sight for 2030, 173,000 fewer this quarter: the counter runs both ways
The World Cup projection reaches Parliament, the planning agency's figures come out the same day. The two numbers aren't in the same league.
The news
Economy and Finance Minister Fouzi Lekjaa presented projections for the 2030 World Cup to the House of Representatives' finance committee on 3 November 2026, including 840,000 jobs across various sectors and cumulative investment growth of 21.2% between 2023 and 2030.
The next day, the presentation by Youth, Culture and Sports Minister Mehdi Bensaid to the Education, Culture and Communication Committee repeated the projection, with more than 840,000 job opportunities broken down as follows: building and public works 52%, other sectors 28%, other industries 13.8%, tourism and restaurants 6.2%.
Also on 3 November, the High Commission for Planning (HCP) published its third-quarter 2026 results: the number of people in paid employment fell by 173,000 (-1.6%) from the second quarter, to 10.47 million. Agriculture, forestry and fishing lost 145,000 people, services 96,000 and construction 3,000, while industry gained 69,000, the only sector to rise.
The strict unemployment rate went from 9.5% to 10.5%, or 1.224 million people, and from 27.2% to 30.5% among 15-24 year olds.
The HCP states that the net change between two quarters is not enough on its own to establish structural job destruction, as it may reflect seasonal and short-term effects. The first figure is also a projection to 2030 and the second a net change over one quarter: they don't measure the same thing.
Figures published, caveats written down. The balwara: we counted the jobs to come before the ones going.
The commentary
Satirical opinion from the editorsOne day, two numbers: the government counts 840,000 jobs coming, the HCP counts 173,000 going. The first has an appointment in 2030, the second showed up unannounced. Until kick-off, the job market is warming up on the bench.
To be fair, the projection is labelled a projection, it's the HCP itself that warns one quarter isn't enough, and industry gained 69,000 jobs. The small balwara sits on the construction line: 52% of the projection is waiting at the building site, and this quarter the building site is down 3,000.