GenZ - We hear you
In 2025, while the cost of living climbs and inflation relentlessly grows, salaries stay frozen in placeâanchored to data as prehistoric as the inherited mindsets of the status quo.
A brand-new Four Seasons just opened in Rabat, the "City of Lights" đ. A luxury landmark whose massive price tag can be spotted from miles away. Straddled between ocean views and the Andalusian walls of a spruced-up palaceâthe neighborhood's historic crownâit stands majestic atop Ksar-el-Bhar. But behind this noble posture lies the gritty truth on the ground.
A friend of mine gets scouted. They drag her from far away, lured by her trilingual skills and years of experience. Guess what they pitched her?
5,000 DH ($500)! (The kind of chump change some casually chuck as tips at the end of a wild night in Marrakech or Tangier).
Tell me, what does 5,000 DH actually buy you in Morocco today? Rent alone (since, go figure, they want her to pack up and move) averages 3,500 DH for a shoebox studio in Rabat. Tack on Wi-Fi, water, and power, and youâre already sitting at 4,000. Budget a measly 40 DH a day for someone eating strictly home-cooked meals, and you hit 5,200 DH. Meaning: the moment you sign, you design your own declineâliving on credit just to survive the month. Savings? A safety net for life's curveballs? Out of the question. Let alone dreams or ambitions.
The kicker is HR trying to sweeten the deal with "perks." Let me read you the list: CNSS, AMO, andâget thisâa salary paid on time! Could someone please explain the difference between basic rights and business benefits? Yet, sadly, this is the classic pitch from HR dinosaurs, talking to us like we're still stuck in the dark days of the Years of Lead.
The capital is there to erect pretty walls that will need a facelift in a few years anyway, but when it comes to paying fair, motivating wagesâand, you know, actually boosting the ECONOMYâsuddenly the pockets are empty. Or maybe itâs a setup? A trap to push the youth into vice? A way to force them to bend and blend into whatever "favors" wealthy guests demand. Well, walls have ears, and those ears love to vent đ€.
And then we wonder why Gen Z is depressed, why they've checked out of school, why they see no future... I spent a few years teaching this generation, and their classic mantras still ring in my ears: "Lach anqra? Li chad chi poste, rah chadou" ("Why hit the books when the game is rigged and the spots are took?"), or "Lach anqra? Bach i3tiwni 2 deryal?" ("Why get a degree just to work for pennies?").
Well, guess what! Gen Z knows a single night in that joint costs five thousand bucks minimum. Gen Z knows how to work a calculator and estimate your revenue. Gen Z can size up your capital outlay with a single glance. Gen Z would rather do absolutely nothing than bust their backs for a bullshit salary. Gen Z knows their rights. Gen Z rejects "modern" slavery (which isnât even that modernâit's already two centuries old).
And then we wonder why customer service in Morocco NEVER measures up to what you find abroad, why the economy keeps widening the wealth gap, and why there is such a massive chasm between policy on paper and reality on the pavement. This is what happens when visionaries build and dream, while petty hustlers sell their souls, their soil, and the shirts off their backs, blind to their own stupidity. Social climbers grabbing power in a parliament that plays out like a circus.
Maybe itâs time to update wages, to finally draw the line between companies making real profit and those just milking the system to park their wealth in brick and mortar. Maybe it's time these corporations do some real groundwork, instead of recycling the same old reports where only the cover changes from one decade to the next.
A Big Sister's broadcast to Gen Z and beyond:
NEVER let grand walls and golden halls intimidate you.
The unemployment rate is just a state stat reflecting the sheer incompetence of successive governments.
You have every right to demand and command a salary that matches your skills.
You aren't delusional; you are realistic.
Aim for small and micro-businesses. Over there, at least, you can actually learn, level up, and find a real path to rise.
Don't fear AI taking your jobâtame the tech in the meantime. If AI peaks, it will start devouring the top of the food chain first. Until then, you'll be lightyears ahead of those who came before you.
Social benefits are the bare minimum of your legal rightsârights some companies should actually pay out before pigging out. Look at those who hire "auto-entrepreneurs" to work full-time CDI hours, only to tell them to hunt down fake invoices once they hit the state's 80,000 DH tax cap. Or those who rely on uninsured temp contracts for high-risk, physical labor just because a proper contract would pinch the pockets of directors building luxury villas in Kech, and because workplace injuries are "too pricey." And letâs not forget the bosses who think throwing a measly 1,500 bucks on top of the SMIG is the absolute ceiling for any position or sector.