Unemployment surges to 80 per cent amid year of war in Gaza

A year of war in Gaza has caused unprecedented and wide-ranging devastation of the labour market and wider economy across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

A new International Labour Organisation (ILO) bulletin, ‘A Year of War in Gaza: Impacts on Employment and Livelihoods in the West Bank and Gaza Strip’, stated that the unemployment rate in Gaza and the West Bank, the two areas comprising the OPT, surged to an average of 51.1 per cent over the past 12 months.

It outlined the unprecedented devastation a year of war has wreaked on jobs, livelihoods, and the economy at large in the OTP, said in the West Bank, the unemployment rate averaged 34.9 per cent between early October 2023 and the end of September 2024, while in Gaza it averaged a staggering 79.7 per cent.

It stated that the war’s wider economic toll has also been substantial, with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declining in the OPT by an average of 32.2 per cent over the past year.

It stated that the West Bank saw a contraction of 21.7 per cent compared to the preceding 12 months, while GDP in the Gaza Strip dropped by 84.7 per cent.

This contraction, according to the report in real GDP is unprecedented in the OPT’s recent history.

According to it, even during the most severe economic downturn of the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2001, real GDP fell by 14.9 per cent, less than half the scale of the current decline, the bulletin explains.

ILO Regional Director for Arab States, Ruba Jaradat, said: “The impact of the war in the Gaza Strip has taken a toll far beyond loss of life, desperate humanitarian conditions and physical destruction. It has fundamentally altered the socio-economic landscape of Gaza, while also severely impacting the West Bank’s economy and labour market. The impact will be felt for generations to come.”

He said with the war now entering its second year, economic strains continue to mount across the OPT, leading to even further dramatic escalations in hardship.

He said in the Gaza Strip, nearly 100 per cent of the population now lives in poverty, reflecting the dire situation faced by families struggling to meet basic needs, stressing that the significant economic contraction in the West Bank was estimated to have more than doubled the short-term poverty rate, rising from 12 per cent in 2023 to 28 per cent by mid-2024.

He stated that the figures published in the bulletin reflect the shutdown of most economic activities in Gaza due to the destruction of homes and infrastructure and the recurring displacement of workers and employers.

This, according to him, has led either to complete termination of work or to a predominance of informal and irregular work, primarily centred on the provision of essential goods and services.

“In the West Bank, Israeli barriers to the movement of persons and goods, coupled with broader trade restrictions and supply chain disruptions, have severely impacted the economy. The closure of the Israeli labour market to Palestinian workers has further strained livelihoods,” the report said.