Industrial Relocation and Social Processes : The Case of Tanger (Morocco) .

The Tangier-Tetouan region, once an agricultural area, has become an attractive industrial centre for the business sector (in 2010 the primary sector accounted for 15.9% of the region’s GDP, the secondary sector for 29.45% and the tertiary sector for 54.7%). Close to 1,400 export-oriented companies, have been established in the region. In addition, a new port, Tanger Med, has been built 35 kilometres from Tangier in the town of Oued Rmel, with an initial capacity for three million containers, which will increase to eight million by 2016. This port infrastructure is symbolic of Morocco’s economic growth strategy, which has turned this border region into a prime area for the relocation of production processes.

But the impetus given to this local area, to make it economically competitive in the global economy has led to major social and economic changes. The socio-demographic structure of the area has changed; internal migration has been significant, on many occasions turning this border area into a stepping stone to international labour migration, the jobs offered are level low quality, and economic insecurity for workers is a fact of life. The development model based on export-oriented industrialization may generate significant socio-economic expectations, but it can also lead to great frustration.
In order to analyse the process taking place, this research, funded by the National R+D1 plan of Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation, has been carried out with the following objectives:
1. To analyse the structural elements shaping the process of industrial relocation in the region.
2. To study the factors that explain the actions of the subjects involved.
Our point of departure is methodological complementarity; we have used in-depth interviews as a technique to produce data, carrying out a total of 96 interviews with workers in the export industry, business people, trade unions and associations, in addition to carrying out a statistical analysis based on secondary sources.