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Morocco benefits from the call centre boom
France Telecom, SNCF (the French Railway company), and Attento, the Spanish business company are just three of the major international companies which have chosen Morocco as a site for new call centres.
Saâd Belghazi, professor of economics at the National Institute for Statistics and Applied Economics in Rabat, Morocco, is studying the rapid development of call centres in the globalisation context:
‘Local firms have had to deal with global competition norms, and to adapt their marketing strategy accordingly’, he explains.‘Meanwhile, the Government has made efforts to attract foreign investors by liberalising the infrastructure sectors, and adapting its trade policy and fiscal policy and restructuring the finance sector. It is also introducing labour market reform.’
Professor Belghazi argues that the success of Morocco in attracting call centres rests on the changing nature of its sources of comparative advantage:
‘Morocco is moving from an economy based on unskilled low-paid labour to one based on skilled low-paid labour. The high unemployment rate for skilled workers results from a strongly segmented labour market in Morocco and from heavier taxation of the higher wage bands. This situation contributes to the marginalisation of a growing share of the skilled workers and the informalisation of their employment. The segmentation effect is to reduce the wage rate of skilled workers near to the legal minimum wage.’
Professor Belghazi will be presenting some of his research results at the Where in the World? Conference.