Egyptians top the Arab share in Algeria’s labour force, but their numbers pale in comparison with those of the Chinese who make up around half of the foreigners who are employed in Algeria, an Algerian official has said.
“The number of expatriates in Algeria has risen from 543 in 1999 to 45,000 in 2009. They are from 105 nationalities, but the Chinese make up around 45 per cent of the foreigners working in the country,” Said Adnen, head of integration services at the labour ministry said. “The total expatriate force is about 0.5 per cent of the total workforce which includes 10 million Algerians,” he told Echerouk daily.
Egyptians represent 11 per cent of the foreign labour community, followed by Italians with four per cent. Americans, Canadians and Filipinos do not exceed three per cent of the total, Said Adnen told teh Algerian daily.
Slightly more than half of the expatriates work in the construction sector whereas the service sector employs 3.6 per cent of the foreigners.
According to the Algerian official, 23 per cent of the foreigners have university degrees.
Some 50 companies and 35,000 people from China are currently involved in one of Algeria’s most important makeovers, building 60,000 new homes, a shopping mall, hotels, an airport and a 745-mile highway among a series of high-profile projects worth $20 billion.
China has made impressive inroads in Africa where its expertise is as welcome as its non-interference in domestic issues, including human rights, a particularly sensitive development for local governments in their relations with the Western world.
However, the Chinese presence in Algeria was questioned by natives last August where a fight between an Algerian and a Chinese over a parking lot in Algiers degenerated into a bloody battle between the two communities and acts of sabotage.
Algerians are also experiencing difficult times with Egyptians in the wake of a bitter rivalry between the two countries over the qualification for the football World Cup finals this year in South Africa. The media hype around the two matches played in November has marred diplomatic, economic and social relations.
Efforts to bring the situation under control may prove futile when the two countries play each other on Friday evening in the semi-final of the African Handball Cup held in Cairo.
Both teams and organizers have prayed for a miracle that will help avoid the clash, but Algeria’s failure to beat the Tunisians on Wednesday evening meant that they would have to square off with the Egyptians for a place in the final match.
