Professor Rashidi Khadra, from the Department of Demography in Oran, warned of the creeping aging of the population in the horizons of 2050 due to rising life rates, which will put economic pressure on retirement funds that must be taken into account from now.
This came during an intervention at the National Forum on Labor and Social Transformations, a sociological reading of the dynamics of the national labor market, at the end of the week, organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oran 2, Mohamed Ben Ahmed.
On the conceptual side, Professor Rashidi emphasized that “population aging is the increase in the percentage of the elderly over 65 years of age within a society to exceed 14 percent, and when it exceeds 20 percent of the population, it is called an ultra-aging society due to the improvement of living conditions and the transformation of the demographic system from a system characterized by high births and deaths to a modern system characterized by low births and deaths, and thus a decrease in the active category and able to work and an increase in the dependent category that is unable to work, the elderly and those under 15 years of age.”
The spokeswoman considered that “the saying that Algerian society is 75 percent youth is no longer a tangible reality. Rather, we are living at the end of the demographic gift cycle, the exceptional stage in which the growth of the segment capable of work (15-64 years) clearly exceeds the growth of the category of dependent individuals (children and the elderly), and unfortunately we have not exploited it to achieve economic growth, as other countries have done.”
The lecture presented a forward-looking reading of the population structure in Algeria 2023-2050, saying: “Expectations indicate profound structural changes in the future, with the group of the elderly over 60 years of age moving from 9 percent to 12.34 percent currently to reach 21.95 percent within 2050. This constitutes enormous pressure on retirement funds, with regard to the working age group between 15 and 59 years, which has moved from 60.5 to 60.91 percent, to reach 57.07 percent in the future, which leads to a contraction of the active labor force, and finally the youth group from 0 to 14 years old, from 30.4 to 26.75 percent currently, to reach 20.98 percent in the near future, meaning a decrease in labor market inputs.
The demographer explained the matter: “The stage of population aging is a result of the decline in the fertility rate in the population in Algeria from 8 births per woman to less than 3 births per woman, reaching 2.1 children per woman, according to completed surveys, which means a society that is not capable of reproduction and demographic stagnation, which is what China is currently experiencing due to the implementation of the policy of one child per family and the preference for males over females, thus entering into demographic aging, unlike India, which surpassed it in the field of fertility and population.” Population aging is creating a new reality called the “silver economy,” which describes economic activities related to the elderly category and the creation of job opportunities, which requires integration between generations, automation, technology, digitization, and care and luxury jobs.
The specialist developed future scenarios for the labor market in Algeria, including a pessimistic scenario in the case of reliance on oil revenues and traditional labor, and thus a crisis of pension funds deficit, production fluctuation, economic recession, and labor market imbalance. The optimistic scenario or smart transformation involves adopting a silver economy, digitization, automation and technology.
In the same context, Professor Al-Helou Sharif touched on the change in the world of work and the impact of artificial intelligence. According to the latest statistics for the year 2026, 93 percent of professions were affected by this revolution in the United States of America, but in return, artificial intelligence will contribute to the creation of 170 million jobs, with more flexibility through working at home and remotely.
Qualification of students
For his part, Professor Ahmed Chaalal, Director of the University of Oran 2, focused in his speech on the sector’s strategy to qualify students to enter the labor market after graduating between 300,000 and 400,000 students annually, through the creation of accompaniment mechanisms such as job search centers, the Entrepreneurship Development Center, the incubator, the Artificial Intelligence Center, the Technology Support Library, and the Office of Linkage between the institution and the university, so that the student turns from a job seeker into a creator of wealth and jobs. For her part, Dr. Badash Warda, coordinator of the forum, pointed out the importance of opening discussion by the university as a driver of the economy about the development of the world of work, the emergence of new professions, the disappearance of traditional professions under the pressure of artificial intelligence, and the transformation of the world of work in conjunction with the celebration of International Workers’ Day and Labor Day in Algeria.
Researcher Smash Nadia from the Center for Research in Social and Cultural Anthropology gave a lecture on university students’ representations of work and its impact on shaping their social identity, and the connection of their identity to earning money, the source of livelihood, and certification for the social position. Dr. Sakal Houria also addressed “feminist entrepreneurship” based on her experience at the Center for the Development of Entrepreneurship at the University of Oran 2 and the rise in the number of women entrepreneurs as a natural result of the percentage of females in the university exceeding 60 percent, which required spending exorbitant funds on forming this sector. category and eventually dispensing with it, contrary to what economic logic requires.
Dr. Nawal Ben Saleh, in her capacity as head of the business incubator at the University of Oran 2, focused on Decree 1275 to create emerging and entrepreneurial institutions and its contribution to creating mini-companies or instilling the entrepreneurial spirit among university graduates after graduation in the event of the success of the institution or helping the training they received to find a job position quickly. For her part, Fayza from the National Employment Agency presented the latest electronic applications that accompany job seekers and job offer holders, such as “Waseet,” and presented a database that includes a blog of available professions.
