JERUSALEM, June 13, 2011 (WAFA) – The United Nations Relief And Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, said in a report published Monday that overall unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip in the second half of 2010 reached 45.2%, the highest unemployment rate in the world.

The report, issued to mark the fifth year of the Israeli blockade on Gaza, said that real wages of employees continued to drop due to the continuous increase of unemployment. Wages dropped by 34.5% since the first half of 2006.

UNRWA spokesman Sami Mushasha said these indicators are disturbing. Refugees who constitute about two-thirds of Gaza’s1.5 million people are the most affected in the period covered by this report, he said.

He added that it was difficult to understand the logic behind the Israeli policy that deliberately works for the impoverishment of hundreds of thousands of refugees who are capable to be productive, sentencing them to a life of destitution.

The private sector was most affected compared to the public sector, according to the report.

Companies got rid of about 8000 jobs in the second half of 2010, which means the employment rate dropped by 8% compared to the first half of 2010. The public sector controlled by Hamas grew by 3% during the same period, said the report.

Mushasha said that “in the midst of this economic crisis, UNRWA will continue its humanitarian work to develop the health and education sectors and to manage schools for a total of 213,000 children in Gaza.”

He said that “the number of people who are the poorest and living on less than one dollar a day has tripled to reach 300,000 since the imposition of the blockade.”

“The future of Gaza looks dark because even though there are several reconstruction projects, they are still awaiting approval,” he said.

T.R./M.A.