SMIG stands for Salaire minimum interprofessionnel garanti, which translates as “guaranteed interprofessional minimum wage”. It is the lowest hourly pay an employer in Morocco may lawfully give a worker in industry, commerce, services, non-agricultural crafts and the liberal professions. Since 1 January 2026 it has been MAD 17.92 an hour, set by decree n° 2.25.983. Farm work has its own floor, the SMAG (Salaire minimum agricole garanti), counted per day rather than per hour: MAD 97.44 a day since 1 April 2026.
What each word means
- Salaire minimum: the minimum wage.
- Interprofessionnel: one floor across trades and sectors, rather than a separate minimum negotiated profession by profession.
- Garanti: guaranteed by law. Article 360 of the Labour Code makes “nul de plein droit” any individual or collective agreement that tries to pay below it.
The Labour Code (law 65-99) itself never says “SMIG”. Its articles 356 to 361 speak of the salaire minimum légal, the legal minimum wage, and the decrees use the same wording. SMIG and SMAG are simply the everyday names for its two versions.
The current amounts
| Floor | Amount | In force since | Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMIG, non-agricultural activities | MAD 17.92 per hour | 1 January 2026 | Decree n° 2.25.983 of 29 December 2025, article 1 |
| SMAG, agricultural activities | MAD 97.44 per day | 1 April 2026 | Same decree, article 2 |
The decree was published in Bulletin officiel n° 7469 on 29 December 2025, after deliberation in the Government Council on 18 December 2025. It repeals the previous decree, n° 2.24.1122, from the same two dates.
Why the monthly figure is MAD 3,422
The decree fixes an hour, not a month. Article 184 of the Labour Code sets normal working time outside agriculture at 2,288 hours a year or 44 hours a week. Divide 2,288 by twelve and you get 190.67 hours, which payroll rounds to 191. So a full-time worker on the SMIG earns 17.92 × 191 = MAD 3,422.72 gross a month. In agriculture the same article sets 2,496 hours a year, which is why the SMAG is expressed per working day instead. The 2026 SMIG breakdown works the gross figure down to net pay.
How the SMIG and SMAG have moved since 2022
Four decrees, four steps. Each one names its own effective date, and the dates do not always match for the two floors.
| SMIG effective | SMIG (MAD/hour) | SMAG (MAD/day) | SMAG effective | Decree | Bulletin officiel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Sept 2022 | 15.55 | 84.37 | 1 Sept 2022 | 2.22.606 of 7 Sept 2022 | n° 7125, 12 Sept 2022 |
| 1 Sept 2023 | 16.29 | 88.58 | 1 Sept 2023 | 2.23.799 of 13 Oct 2023 | n° 7240, 19 Oct 2023 |
| 1 Jan 2025 | 17.10 | 93.00 | 1 April 2025 | 2.24.1122 of 3 Jan 2025 | n° 7367, 6 Jan 2025 |
| 1 Jan 2026 | 17.92 | 97.44 | 1 April 2026 | 2.25.983 of 29 Dec 2025 | n° 7469, 29 Dec 2025 |
Two details hide in those texts. The 2022 decree applied the new hourly rate to the tourism sector only from 1 January 2023. And the 2023 decree was signed on 13 October but took effect from 1 September, so the new rate reached back to September pay. Across the four steps the SMIG rose from 15.55 to 17.92, about 15%, and the SMAG from 84.37 to 97.44, about 15.5%.
What counts toward the minimum
The SMIG is not a pure base-salary floor, and that surprises people. Article 357 says that outside agriculture, “les pourboires et les accessoires, en espèces ou en nature, entrent en ligne de compte” when checking whether pay reaches the legal minimum. In agriculture, benefits in kind do not count.
Article 358 sets the unit: pay for one hour of work outside agriculture, pay for one day of work in agriculture. Article 359 covers piece-rate and output-based pay. Those workers are owed at least the minimum, unless an approved expert finds the shortfall is directly attributable to the worker.
What an employer risks by paying less
Article 361 punishes underpayment with a fine of MAD 300 to 500, applied once for every worker concerned, with a total cap of MAD 20,000. The same article adds a civil remedy: in a dispute, if the employer has not paid the sums due before the hearing, the court orders the withheld minimum-wage amounts returned to the worker at the worker’s request. A labour inspector is the usual first stop; the Labour Code entry explains where the rule sits.
How the amount is set
Article 356 says the legal minimum “ne peut être inférieur aux montants fixés par voie réglementaire”, after the most representative employer organisations and unions have given their opinion. In practice each new rate arrives as a decree that cites decree n° 2.08.374 of 9 July 2008, which applies article 356, then passes the Government Council and is published in the Bulletin officiel. Increases are negotiated in Morocco’s tripartite social dialogue between government, unions and employers, and recent rounds have been paid out in steps.
How many workers are paid at the floor
More than you might think. The Observatoire marocain de la TPME, working from CNSS declarations, found that 46.6% of employees declared to the CNSS in 2024 earned no more than the SMIG. The share was 54.8% in 2023 and 44% in 2022. The observatory attributes the 2023 peak to the two back-to-back increases, which pulled workers who had been just above the floor back down into the SMIG band. The salaries by sector article shows where those jobs sit.
Gross vs net
The SMIG is a gross rate. CNSS and AMO employee contributions, plus income tax (IR) where applicable, are withheld at source, which is why take-home pay sits below the headline figure. Payslips are required to break out these components. Check your own figures with the gross-to-net calculator.
Official sources
- Decree n° 2.25.983 (SMIG MAD 17.92 from 1 January 2026, SMAG MAD 97.44 from 1 April 2026): Bulletin officiel n° 7469, Arabic general edition, read 8 October 2026.
- Decree n° 2.24.1122 (MAD 17.10 and MAD 93): Bulletin officiel n° 7367.
- Decree n° 2.23.799 (MAD 16.29 and MAD 88.58): Bulletin officiel n° 7240.
- Decree n° 2.22.606 (MAD 15.55 and MAD 84.37): Bulletin officiel n° 7125.
- Labour Code, law 65-99, articles 184, 356 to 361: Bulletin officiel n° 5210 of 6 May 2004, official French translation, pages 621 to 622 and 636.
- Observatoire marocain de la TPME, annual report 2025 edition, page 133: omtpme.ma.
- Ministry of Employment: travail.gov.ma.
References
- French Wikipedia article: Salaire minimum interprofessionnel garanti (Maroc)