STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's remember for a moment an act that triggered uprisings across the Arab world. A young Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire. His act was followed by protests that drove Tunisia's leader out of the country, which in turn inspired more protest elsewhere. We mention all this because last week in Morocco, five people set themselves on fire. They were jobless college graduates. Joblessness remains a huge problem across the Arab world.
And NPR's Deborah Amos tells us that for some Moroccans, unemployment has become a full-time job.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: It's rush hour in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, and time for the march of the unemployed college graduates - part of a movement that's become a rite of passage. It's a path to a government career for a lucky few, even though it can take years. When an English-speaking reporter arrives, the crowd parts for Abdul Rahim Momneh to speak.
ABDUL RAHIM MOMNEH: I have a degree, a master's degree in English, and I'm here, OK, idle without job, without dignity, without anything.
AMOS: Youth unemployment is a crisis for every Arab government. In Morocco, the jobless rate is more than 30 percent for the young.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING)
AMOS: But government employment is hardly a solution, say the movement's critics. Morocco's bureaucracy is already bloated and unproductive; the huge government payroll is a financial drain.
Yet, under pressure from these protests, officials often give in, adding a few more positions, and every year, even more graduates swell the movement - shunning the rigors of private sector work, holding out for the slim chance of the lifetime security and perks that come with a government job.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD)
AMOS: They gather in a park, dumping their backpacks. Each group has a slogan displayed on colored vests they wear to every march.
Mokhliss Tsouli is with the yellow group. He moved to the capital after earning a master's degree to join the protest full time.
How often do you come out to protest?
MOKHLISS TSOULI: Probably, you know, four days a week, five days a week. It depends, you know, on the leaders of all the groups.
AMOS: And you're the yellow guys. How come you're the yellow ones?
TSOULI: It's Shalia. It means spark, if I am going, you know, to translate it, you know, correctly, I think it's a spark.
AMOS: Certainly the spark for a permanent protest, part of the landscape of the capital. It's a movement with strict rules and rewards. Organizers keep a tally. There are points for attendance, extra points for scuffles with the police - points that determine who gets to the top of the list - and gets a job, says Tsouli.
TSOULI: Sometime, you know, there are students who just come once a week - and they're not really activists. So we're updating the list that we will give to the government, to the decision makers.
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)
AMOS: The country's new government has vowed to tackle unemployment. It was elected after Morocco's Arab Spring moment last year, when widespread discontent brought tens of thousands to the streets.
But don't compare that political movement with these jobless college grads, says Nasreen el Hannch.
NASREEN EL HANNCH: Oh, it's not the same. We are totally different because we are just looking for jobs. They are looking for change Morocco; we are not looking for change, only to find a job.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANNCH: So we hope.
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)
AMOS: There's no hope that the job crisis will go away without substantial political and economic change. But until then, a little social blackmail means at least some of these students will get work.
The government has already pledged to open 20,000 new jobs, but tens of thousands more have a reason to keep up the pressure.
Deborah Amos, NPR News.