Geneva, Switzerland — The war in Gaza has seen the unemployment rate in the besieged Palestinian territory surge to nearly 80 percent, the United Nations said Friday.
The UN’s labour agency said the war between Hamas and Israel had “caused loss of jobs and livelihoods on a massive scale”.
Since the war began in October last year, “the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip has reached a staggering 79.1 percent”, the International Labour Organization said, citing a new brief by the ILO and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
In the West Bank, unemployment has reached 32 percent, the ILO added.
The average unemployment rate across the West Bank and Gaza combined stood at 50.8 percent, it said.
However, these figures “do not account for those who have left the labour force altogether as job prospects proved unattainable”, it said.
“The actual number of those who have lost their jobs is therefore even higher than what the unemployment figures suggest.”
‘Collapsed’ labor market
The unemployment update comes as the ILO holds its International Labour Conference from June 3-14.
“In the wake of the horrific Hamas-led atrocities against Israel and the ensuing relentless war waged by Israel, the labor market in Gaza has literally collapsed,” ILO chief Gilbert F. Houngbo said during the conference on Thursday.
“Gaza is in ruins. Livelihoods are shattered and work is scarce. Labor rights have been decimated.
“This has been the hardest year for Palestinian workers since 1967. Never before has the situation been this bleak.”
He called for a job-rich and rights-driven early recovery even while the humanitarian response to the war is still unfolding, saying job creation and decent work out to be at the heart of rebuilding infrastructure and services.
“Of course, none of this will be possible without an end to the current war and the release of all hostages,” Houngbo added.