RAMALLAH, March 6, 2017 (WAFA) – Labor force indicators recently published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics are “deeply troubling,” Mohammad Shtayyeh, director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR), said on Monday.
He said the most serious indicator was the rise in the number of Palestinians laborers working in Israel, whose number increased by 15 per cent in 2016 compared to the previous year, bringing up the number to 128,800 workers with 24,200 of them working in the settlements.
He said these figures demand an in-depth study by the Palestinian decision makers to find solutions for it, particularly since it means Israel will continue to control Palestinian economy.
“If Israel decides to stop hiring Palestinian workers, thousands will become unemployed overnight, which will mean a rise in unemployment rate in the West Bank from 17 per cent to 32 per cent and overall unemployment in Palestine will rise from 26 per cent to 36 per cent,” he said.
Shtayyeh said lack of work and the big gap between wages in the West Bank and Israel, which is more than double that of the West Bank, have caused many young Palestinians to seek work in Israel.
He said Israel is using Palestinian labor in the settlements to show the world that while it condemns Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, they nevertheless are a place for economic coexistence between the occupier and occupied.
He said Israel uses the labor force to control the land and people because when it pays them more, Palestinians abandon their land and farms to become unskilled laborers in Israel.
Shtayyeh urged universities and governmental and non-governmental institutions to cooperate in studying the shocking unemployment figures in fields such as journalism, where unemployment rate among new graduates reached 45 per cent, as well as among graduates of education and social studies.
Another serious indicator of the labor force data was the rise in the number of people employed by the private sector who receive salaries almost 40 per cent less than the minimum wage. He said their number reaches 134,000 employees.
In addition, he said, 73 per cent of those who work in the private sector do not have contracts, which put their end of work rights and job security at risk.
M.K.
