Algeria’s jobless rate for 2011 was 10 per cent, the same as the previous year, even though unemployment among graduates dropped significantly, the National Office of Statistics (ONS) announced on Sunday in Algiers.

• Algeria’s jobless rate for 2011 was 10 per cent, the same as the previous year, even though unemployment among graduates dropped significantly, the National Office of Statistics (ONS) announced on Sunday.

• The total number unemployed for 2011 was 1.063 million people, 10 percent of the country’s labour force, it said.

• The same percentage was recorded in 2010, which marked a slight fall from 2009’s 10.2 percent, which in turn was a drop from the 11.3 percent registered in 2008, according to the report cited by the official APS news agency.

• It said graduate unemployment fell sharply between 2010 and 2011, from 21.4 percent to 16.1 percent. Unemployment levels are highest among university graduates, followed by graduates of institutes and vocational colleges at 12.4 percent, followed by members of the general population without higher education at 8.2 percent.

• There was also a sharp disparity between the genders, with the jobless rate at 19.1 percent for men and 38.1 percent for women. Overall unemployment for adults aged 25 and older was 7.2 percent.