Ramallah: The number of Palestinians from the West Bank employed in Israel increased by 7,000 over three months in 2013.
In its Thursday announcement of the results of a labour force survey funded by the European Union, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics stated that the number of Palestinians working in Israel had grown from 96,000 in the 2nd quarter of 2013 to 103,000 in the 3rd quarter.
Of these, 51,000 workers had a permit, 34,600 worked without a permit and 17,600 employed persons have an Israeli identity card or foreign passport.
The number of employees in Israeli colonies in the West Bank remained unchanged at 20,000 in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2013. The number of persons participating in the labour force in Palestine was about 1.16 million in the 3rd quarter of the year 2013. This number comprised about 761,000 workers in the West Bank and 400,000 in the Gaza Strip.
The labour force participation rate in the Palestinian territories was 44.9 per cent in the West Bank and 41.4 per cent in the Gaza Strip.
Significantly, the gap between the participation rates of males and females is still very large – the male participation rate reached 69.5 per cent while the female rate was 17.1 per cent.
Using International Labour Organisation standards, the number of unemployed was found to be about 275,000 in the 3rd quarter 2013 — about 145,000 in the West Bank and about 130,000 in the Gaza Strip.
The unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip was 32.5 per cent compared with 19.1 per cent in the West Bank, and the unemployment rate for males in Palestine was 20.3 per cent compared with 37.8 per cent for females.
The number of unemployed was about 275,000 in the 3rd quarter of 2013 and of these about 145,000 lived in the West Bank and about 130,000 in the Gaza Strip.
The highest unemployment rate in the 3rd quarter of 2013 was 43.1 per cent among youth aged 20-24 years.
When correlated with years of schooling, the unemployment rate among females with 13 years of schooling or more was 49.9 per cent.
The highest unemployment rate in the West Bank governorates was in Hebron with 22.3 per cent. In the Gaza Strip, the highest unemployment rate was in Khan Younis with 35.8 per cent.
According to the relaxed definition of unemployment in Palestine, the unemployment rate increased from 24.5 per cent in the 2nd quarter 2013 to 27.1 per cent in the 3rd quarter.
The labour force survey found that a total of 4.0 per cent of children aged 10-17 years are employed; 5.7 per cent in the West Bank and 1.3 per cent in the Gaza Strip.
