Algerians Work 2 Hours a Day, Relax For 4 Months a Year, Expert

Algeria is being inflicted a 1.6 billion loss each year because of religious, national and international off-days, said Dr Abdelmalek Serrai, and economist expert.

Dr Serrai said Algerian civil servants in both private and public sectors get 137 off-days a year, including the weekend (Friday and Saturday), as well as official religious and national days.

He said Algerian workers get 11 official religious and national off days, 30 days as annual vacation, in addition to 96 days as weekends. 

However, the economist said Algerian employees work an average of 2 hours per day, according to international working standards, saying there is a lack of labor culture in the North African nation.

He further underlined that such off days and low working time cause heavy loss to the country production system, while the most affected sectors are services, banking, transport, ports and airports where the public treasury is inflicted billion dollar losses due to delays related to money transfers, as well as the delivery and the reception of containers and goods.

To recall the Labour Law in Algeria specifies 11 paid off-days, including 1ST January, 1st May, 5 July (Independence Day), 1 November (Declaration of Independence War), 2 days of Eid al-Adha religious feast, 2 days of Eid el-Fitr religious feast, 1 Muharam (religious day), Ashura (religious day), and the Birth of Prophet Mohammed (religious day).