Unemployment rate in Gaza world’s highest — ILO

UNITED NATIONS, May 30:The unemployment rate in the occupied Palestinian territories, in particular in the Gaza Strip, turned out to be the highest in the world and amounted to 27.4 percent in 2017, the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency, said in its annual report on Wednesday.
According to the report, the segments of society most vulnerable to unemployment are women and youngsters.
“Gaza’s unemployment rate, already the world’s highest in the previous year, rose sharply once again and stood at 43.6 percent in 2017. Notably, 63 percent of Gaza’s unemployed have been without work for a year or longer,” the report indicated.
The ILO, which is based in Geneva, added that in the present situation the increasing number of Palestinians, especially the young ones, were leaving the Palestinian territories for other countries, in particular, Israel to work.
“The absence of a political and diplomatic process on the basis of the Oslo Accords cements the occupation and impedes Palestinian development,” ILO Director-General Guy Ryder in his preface to the report.
He said the Palestinian labour market has deteriorated to lows which should be a deep concern to all involved.
“It is plain to see that the absence of opportunity for young people drives them to desperation,” Ryder noted.
Due to the severe lack of job opportunities, it is not surprising that a growing number of Palestinians, particularly the young, are disengaging from the labour market, the report said, adding that labour force participation rates in the occupied Palestinian territories are among the lowest in the world.
The report submitted to the ILO’s International Labour Conference details the multiple restrictions on economic activity arising from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Most of the occupied land remains effectively off-limits for Palestinians, settlement building is intensifying, and East Jerusalem is cut off from the rest of the West Bank, said the report.
While confrontation is on the rise overall, the report also notes encouraging signs of cooperation regarding work in Israel by Palestinians from the West Bank.
Palestinian employment in the Israeli economy increased again in 2017, by more than 11 percent from the previous year, boosted by additional permits issued by the Israeli authorities, said the ILO.
Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition for their state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, along with the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli government, along with a number of other countries, refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity and continues to build settlements in the occupied areas despite objections from the United Nations and most of the international community.