إدريس التمسماني

Washington DC - Despite the rippling impact of the recession affecting everybody in the United States since 2007, the Moroccan community living in the land of "Milk and Honey" remains upbeat over future.

"The crisis spared nobody," says Sobhi, an Egyptian owner of convenience Store in the Skyline area in the State of Virginia, hosting a large number of Arab community and particularly Moroccans. "Things are getting worse and tough. Several workers have been laid-off. People are consuming less and the business has been badly hit," says Sobhi, who employs three Moroccans in his shop. "In the world of business, there are ups and downs. But live must go on. I have not lost my job. I am working as a cook at a hotel restaurant for eight years now," says the 40-year old Khalid.

However, Khalid says that he can see the impact of the crisis on his co-workers whose working hours were downsized while others are ensnared and overwhelmed by easy loans offered by credit cards companies. "The crisis is temporary. Things will progressively go back to normal. "For his part,  Abderrahim, who works for a Washington-DC hotel, concedes that job openings are drying up. Nourredine, a cabbie man in DC, says the business is running in a downward trend. Green Card holders and newcomers find it very difficult to get jobs and cannot count on the government's support.  "This year has been tough," he adds, affirming that the situation in other States such as North Carolina and Connecticut is much worse than in the DC area.

During the past five years, the number of Moroccan community grew rapidly thanks the U.S. Visa-lottery program, says Driss Temsamani, founder of  “361 Degrees Institute” and President of the Moroccan American Coalition. 63% of the 150,000 Moroccans living in the States have acquired U.S. citizenship while 25 % are permanent residents, he points out.

Moroccan white-collars seem to be less affected by the recession. Hakim from Johns Hopkins University says he was not directly affected by the crisis, but agrees that the prices of some products, especially food stuffs, have flared up significantly.