Palestine Economy Portal

The Minister of Labor, Ma’moun Abu Shahla, said that the workforce in Palestine is 1.3 million, with 70% of employed workers; in the Private or Public sectors or in the Israeli Economy, and an unemployed 30%; which was caused by the Economic situation at hand and the occupations’ practices.

This was the outcome of a panel discussion in the Ministry of Labor on Wednesday titled “Promoting women's access to equal economic opportunities and decent work in Palestine”. The purpose of this discussion was to look over the relationships and working conditions in the economic sectors that are operating for women. This program was executed by the UN for women, the ILO, and was funded by the Italian Cooperation for Development.

Abu Shahla added that the unemployment rate for women in Jerusalem reached 85%, while it reached 32.1% in the West Bank and 73% in Gaza Strip.

Abu Shahla assured that the Ministry of Labor is seeking to amend some provisions of the Labor Code; focusing on giving women equal rights to work and receiving any proposals to fill the legal gaps (regarding supporting women economically)  through improving women’s working conditions and having equal opportunities.

He pointed to the importance of having legal scripts to require employers to apply the minimum wage, giving workers safety guidelines, professional health and decent work.

Abu Shahla said that the Ministry will later on teach a number of points to assure the protection of workers’ rights including: requiring employers to send a copy of the work contract to the ministry, transferring the workers’ fees and private sectors’ workers to banks in order to insure the application of the minimum wage, and the protection of workers’ rights.

Qlebo talked about the importance of providing decent work for women by focusing on the economic empowerment of women, which plays a role in raising the levels of playback through building their abilities and rehabilitating them for the labor market, providing a safe work environment for women through revision of laws and legislation, and sensitization of workers to their rights.