Palestine: The United Nations labour agency has stated that Gaza has lost at least 61 percent of its jobs since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7. The UN agency further warned that the economic fallout will reverberate for “many years to come.”
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the employment losses in the Palestinian territory are equivalent to 182,000 jobs.
“Our initial assessment of the repercussions of the tragic current crisis on the Palestinian labour market has yielded extremely worrying results, which will only worsen if the conflict continues,” Ms. Ruba Jaradat, the ILO’s Regional Director for Arab States, commented.
“The ongoing hostilities not only represent an enormous humanitarian crisis in terms of loss of lives and basic human needs, they also represent a social and economic crisis that has caused vast damage to jobs and businesses, with reverberations that will be felt for many years to come,” Ms. Jaradat added.
The ILO added that the occupied West Bank has also lost an estimated 24 percent of its employment, the equivalent of 208,000 jobs, as a result of the ongoing war in Gaza.
According to the UN agency, job losses in the two Palestinian territories translate into estimated daily income losses of $16 million.
Mr. Jaradat remarked that residents in Gaza must be allowed “full, rapid, safe, and unhindered” access to humanitarian aid.
“We are working tirelessly with the government, worker and employer partners, other UN agencies, and humanitarian actors to provide immediate assistance to impacted workers and businesses. We will also support them in the longer term towards collecting vital labour market information and recovering jobs and enterprises, combined with social protection initiatives, to the utmost extent of our mandate,” the Regional Director added.
According to reports, unemployment in the territory was 46.4 percent in the second quarter of 2023, one of the highest rates in the world. At least 10,022 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bombardment since the war began in Gaza.
TRENDING | Blinken visits Iraq amid growing fears of regional conflict
