Bridging the social protection gap: family-owned enterprises as catalysts for pension reform in Morocco’s informal sector

Abstract

Morocco’s informal sector, comprising over 60% of the workforce, faces systemic exclusion from formal social protections, particularly pension systems. Family-owned enterprises, which dominate the nation’s economic landscape, present a strategic yet underutilized avenue to address this gap. This study investigates how family businesses can drive pension system reforms to expand social coverage for informal workers. Employing a mixed-methods approach—analyzing economic data from national and international sources alongside qualitative insights from case studies and stakeholder interviews—the research underscores the unique capacity of family enterprises to formalize informal employment and pioneer innovative social protection models. Findings reveal that their deep community embeddedness, long-term orientation, and resource flexibility enable them to act as intermediaries between informal workers and formal institutions. The study advocates for policy measures such as regulatory simplification, tax incentives, and public-private partnerships to amplify family businesses’ contributions to social security expansion. These recommendations aim to reconcile business viability with worker welfare, fostering inclusive growth while mitigating elderly poverty risks. By aligning family entrepreneurship with national reform agendas, Morocco can establish a replicable framework for enhancing social protection in emerging economies, particularly within the MENA region.