RAMALLAH, July 8, 2013 (WAFA) – There was a rise in
unemployment among new graduates aged 20-29 years in 2012 compared to the
previous year, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on
Monday.
It said in a special press release on new university graduates that there are around 30,000 graduates annually from Palestinian higher education institutions.
It said in the 2012/2013 academic year, around 87,000 high
school students took the general matriculation exam that allows them to enter
college.
According to the PCBS, unemployment rate in 2012 rose to
50.6% among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor degree or an
intermediate diploma - 40.9% in the West Bank and 63.2% in the Gaza Strip. In
2011, the unemployment rate for this group was 46.5%.
The highest rates of unemployment among graduates aged 20-29
years with a bachelor degree or an intermediate diploma in the Gaza Strip were teacher
training and education (73.0%), social and behavioral sciences (71.7%),
humanities (70.3%), life sciences (68.9%) and computing (60.8%).
The highest unemployment rates in the West Bank for the same age group by area of study were teacher training and education (54.8%), social and behavioral sciences (52.4%), mathematics and statistics (51.2%), humanities (45.9%) and journalism and information (44.7%).
M.S.
