A French official survey documented mass unemployment and illiteracy among Algerian Muslims

Evidence

The official Maspétiol Report of 1955, which deeply shocked the French government, revealed that nearly one million Muslims (or one in nine of the overall population) were totally or partially unemployed, and that another two million were seriously underemployed; in the country this meant that the agricultural worker worked no more than an average of sixty-five days a year — or thirty-five days if female labour were included in the reckoning. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 185 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

All the time the economy suffered, leading to ever worse unemployment—one-third of the labour force, in a population well over three times that of 1954, produced by one of the world’s highest birthrates, and concentrated (in Algiers) in some of the world’s worst slums. All more incentives for bringing recruits to the revolt. By the end of 2001 at a rough estimate 100,000 Algerians had died—and 120 foreigners—with a cost to the economy running into billions of dollars. With strong US support, the Bouteflika regime has to some extent been successful in suppressing the Islamicist revolt, winning over the pious middle classes, and providing the Pentagon with a staunch ally in the war on terror—but at a questionable price in human rights. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 43 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The girl who reaches puberty in Algeria and does not marry prolongs an abnormal situation. It must never be forgotten that the illiteracy and the unemployment that prevail in Algeria leave the girl no other solution. In a douar, the unmarried woman—and a girl becomes a woman at sixteen—must marry. Considered a minor indefinitely, the woman owes it to herself to find a husband as soon as possible, and the father is haunted by the fear of dying and abandoning his daughter without support and therefore unable to survive. — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 363 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Algerian poverty and unemployment fuelled recruits for the Islamicist revolt — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 43; Demographic pressure rather than French presence produced Algerian misery — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 346; Illiteracy and unemployment forced Algerian girls into early marriage — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 363 (+3 more)

Related

• Roughly three million Algerian Muslims faced serious underemployment by 1955 (similarity 0.93)
• Algerian poverty and unemployment fuelled recruits for the Islamicist revolt (similarity 0.91)
• Illiteracy and unemployment forced Algerian girls into early marriage (similarity 0.86)
• Algerian land produced ever-diminishing returns while the Muslim population trebled (similarity 0.85)
• Algerian Muslims earned roughly one-thirtieth of European earnings yet paid proportionally heavier taxes. (similarity 0.82)
• French medical progress caused an Algerian population explosion that nullified economic reforms (similarity 0.80)
• Algerian underdevelopment stemmed from a century of persistent underinvestment (similarity 0.79)
• Demographic pressure rather than French presence produced Algerian misery (similarity 0.79)
• Algeria’s official war-dead figure of one million exceeds all credible estimates (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Roughly three million Algerian Muslims faced serious underemployment by 1955 #corroborates (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 185
• Algerian poverty and unemployment fuelled recruits for the Islamicist revolt #corroborates (0.55) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 43
• Illiteracy and unemployment forced Algerian girls into early marriage #expands (0.50) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 363
• Demographic pressure rather than French presence produced Algerian misery #contradicts (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 346
• Algerian land produced ever-diminishing returns while the Muslim population trebled #corroborates (0.35)