Female youth unemployment is a critical issue in Algeria: 37.4% of women, compared to 18.6% of men aged 16-24, were unemployed in 2010. Unemployment is particularly widespread among female university graduates: 33.6% of women holding a university degree were unemployed in 2010 compared to 11.1% of men. Data shows that the unemployment rate of female graduates is significantly higher, independently of their chosen field of study, which may be ascribed to a supposed “gender-biased” choice. No major gender differences exist with respect to the length of unemployment: in 2011, 74.8% of unemployed men and 71.3% of unemployed women were facing long-term unemployment, defined as unemployment for 12 or more months (Office national des statistiques, 2012a).