RAMALLAH, There are 372 unemployed persons in Palestine, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
In a statement detailing the current status of the Palestinian labor force in 2021 issued on the occasion of the International Workers’ Day, president of PCBS, PCBS said that unemployment rate in Palestine remained at the same level in 2021 about 26% of the labour force participants compared with 2020. The number of unemployed persons increased from 335,000 in 2020 to 372,000 in 2021 because of the rise in the labour force participation rate and the decline in the employment rate in 2021.
The total labor underutilization increased from about 36% in 2020 to 34% (524,000 persons) in 2021, including 73,000 discouraged jobseekers and 26,000 in time-related underemployment.
The West Bank governorate of Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip governorate of Dier Al-Balah have both recorded the highest unemployment rate, PCBS noted.
In the West Bank, Bethlehem governorate recorded the highest unemployment rate in 2021 with a percentage of about 25%, followed by Jenin and Hebron governorates with a rate of about 19% each. However, Jerusalem governorate recorded the lowest unemployment rate with a percentage of about 4%. In Gaza Strip, Dier Al-Balah governorate recorded the highest unemployment rate of about 53% followed by Khan Yunis governorate with a percentage of about 51%, while North Gaza Governorate recorded the lowest unemployment rate of about 38%.
PCBS revealed that there are about 1,000,000 employed persons and the private sector is the main employer. It explained that the numbers of employed persons in Palestine reached 1,034 thousand; 630 thousand in the West Bank, 259 thousand in Gaza Strip and 145 thousand in Israel and Israeli settlements. There are about 747 thousand wage employees in Palestine (402 thousand of them in the West Bank, 209 thousand in Gaza Strip, 116 thousand in Israel and 20 thousand in the Israeli colonial settlements).
About 54% of wage employees in Palestine are working in the private sector, 285 thousand in the West Bank and 118 thousand in Gaza Strip, compared with about 28% employed persons in the public sector, and 18% of wage employees are working in Israel and Israeli colonial settlements. Thus, about 25% of wage employees from the West Bank are working in Israel and Israeli settlements.
PCBS added that one fourth of wage employees in the private sector work in technical and specialized occupations.
It explained that about 26% of wage employees in the private sector work as professionals or technicians in Palestine; with a percentage of 16% for males and 74% for females. In addition, 18% of wage employees in Palestine work in crafts and related trade works: 21% for males and 2% for females.
Regarding average of real wages in the private sector, PCBS said that the real average daily wage (base year= 2018) in the private sector was about 97NIS in Palestine; about 42 NIS in Gaza Strip and about 119 NIS in the West Bank (Wage employees in Israel and Israeli settlements are excluded).
The constructions activity in the private sector recorded the highest average of real daily wage of 128 NIS in the West Bank and 40 NIS in Gaza Strip, followed by services activity with about 135 NIS in the West Bank and 74 NIS in Gaza Strip. While the agriculture activity recorded the lowest average daily wage at 85 NIS in the West Bank and 21 NIS in Gaza Strip.
PCBS pointed that about 29% of wage employees in the private sector receive less than the minimum monthly wage of (1,450 NIS) in Palestine.
The number of wage employees in the private sector who received less than the minimum monthly wage (NIS 1,450) reached about 108 thousand; out of which 20 thousand wage employees in the West Bank (about 7% of the total number of wage employees in the private sector in the West Bank) with a monthly average wage of NIS 1,098 compared to 88 thousand wage employees in Gaza Strip (about 81% of the total number of wage employees in the private sector in Gaza Strip) with a monthly average wage of NIS 655.
In the same context, the average actual weekly work hours for wage employees in Palestine was 41 hours; 39 hours for wage employees in the public sector, and 42 weekly work hours for wage employees in the private sector.
The center said that about one third of the private sector’s wage employees receive benefits. About 33% of the private sector’s wage employees receive benefits (retirement/end-of-service gratuity, paid annual leave and paid sick leave). Thus, the number of employed persons in the private sector who had written unlimited contract was 65 thousand employed persons, 130 thousand employed persons in the private sector with temporally contract, and about 208 thousand employed persons with no contract. However, about 51% of wage female employees working in the private sector got a paid maternity leave.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency