ABSTRACT
Algeria was the first Maghreb country to become incorporated in the French labour market. In the early 1970s both the Algerian and French governments, though for very different reasons, sought to terminate all new labour migration from Algeria to France. The chapter argues the three 'ages' of Algerian Emigration: The first age of emigration, from its origins to the Second World War, was a response to the destructive impact of French colonisation on the traditional peasant economy and society; An acceleration of the process of 'depeasanti-sation' ushered in the second age of emigration; The third age, beginning in the 1960s, is marked by an increase in family reunion in France as migrants are joined by their wives and children. Statistics published by the Office National Algerien de Main dOeuvre (ONAMOs) Department of Reinsertion reveal that from 1976 to 1979 a total of 40,000 jobs in state enterprises were made available to Algerian workers in France.
