RABAT, Morocco — Morocco spends about a quarter of its state budget on education, a high proportion by any standards. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average in developed industrial nations is about 13 percent.

Yet the results have not saved the country from some serious soul searching.

“It’s sad to note that the state of education is worse now than it was 20 years ago,” King Mohammed VI said in a televised speech on Aug. 20. “How is it that a segment of our youth cannot realize their legitimate aspirations at professional, physical and social levels?”

Thousands of unemployed graduates regularly protest in front of Morocco’s Parliament in Rabat, demanding help from the government in finding work in a job market that has become increasingly hostile to new graduates. They say that their education has left them ill-equipped for the workplace. This month protesters blocking the car of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane were dispersed by riot police.

“Like all young Moroccans, I am worried about my future,” said Zainab Bouslama, an engineering student at the University of Kenitra, who will graduate next year. “To find a job in Morocco, I would need money and a network, two things I don’t have.”