According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), unemployment in Gaza stood at 44.1% in the second quarter of 2022 (April-June), a 2.5% drop compared to the previous quarter (when unemployment was 46.6%). The unemployment rate in the West Bank in this quarter was 13.8%.
The second quarter of the year saw another drop in the workforce participation rate in Gaza, meaning the proportion of people of working age within the general population who are either counted as employed or who actively searched for employment in the three weeks preceding the PCBS poll. The workforce participation rate was 39.6%, a 3% drop compared to the previous quarter. The decline occured among both women (a 6% drop) and men (a 2% drop).
Though the number of people employed in Gaza did increase slightly compared to the same quarter last year (by 3,800 people), the number of workers in the fishing and farming sectors dropped by 2,561 people, who comprised 13% of all employees in those sectors. The number of women employed in Gaza dropped by 1,700 compared to the previous quarter.
Among Gaza’s younger population (ages 15-29), the unemployment rate stood at 59.1%, compared to 62.5% in the previous quarter and 61.9% in the same quarter last year.
Unemployment in Gaza is still much higher among women than among men, reaching 65.1% in the second quarter of 2022, compared to 65.6% in the previous quarter and 64% in the second quarter of 2021. The disparity in unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank also applies to unemployment among Palestinian women, with a 22% unemployment rate for women in the West Bank registered this quarter.
In the second quarter of the year, 32.4% of those employed in Gaza worked in the public sector, for the Palestinian Authority or the de facto authorities in Gaza. Employees in the public sector earn an average of 90.7 ILS (26.6 USD) per day. Many of them have been receiving only partial salaries for some time. The vast majority (88%) of people employed in Gaza’s private sector earn less than the minimum monthly wage (1,880 ILS or about 550 USD). Average daily wages in Gaza were just 35 ILS (10 USD) in the second quarter.