Translated by Sabrin Qadah 

RAMALLAH-  Head of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, D. Mohammad Shtayyeh, said on Monday commenting on the labor force survey of the Central Bureau of Statistics, that the Palestinian labor market indicators for last year are very worrying and must be discussed nationally, and that we must search for solutions in the short and long terms.

129 thousand workers in Israel and settlements

Shtayyeh pointed out that the most dangerous indicator is the rising number of workers in Israel and Israeli settlements by 15% by the end of 2016 compared to last year, bringing the number to 128.8 thousand workers in Israel, about 24.2 thousand of them work in the settlements.

He said that the increasing number of workers in Israel is one of the occupation tools to dominate our economy and make it a follower of theirs. In case Israel has decided to dispense the Palestinian labor, thousands of Palestinian workers will become unemployed, raising the unemployment rate in the West from 17% to 32%, where the unemployment rate in total in the Palestinian territories ranges from 26% to 36%.

He added that the scarcity of employment opportunities and large wage gap between the West Bank and Israel pushed young Palestinian youth to work inside Israel. According to the PSCB, average daily wages in the West are about 98 shekels, 216 shekels in Israel and about 64 shekels Gaza Strip.

He said that in the time that settlements are refused and condemned by the whole world and all international laws and resolutions, Israel is using that fact that Palestinians work in the settlements as a sign of economic co-existence between the occupier and the occupied. He pointed out that the employment is one of Israel's control tools over the land and humans, as rising wages in Israel attracts some Palestinian workers to leave cultivating their lands and turn into non-skilled labor forces inside Israel.

Shocking unemployment rates in some disciplines

Shtayyeh called on universities and governmental and non-governmental organizations to cooperate to study the shocking unemployment rates in certain disciplines, such as journalism and media, in which unemployment rate reaches about 45%, as well as in interdisciplinary education science, teacher training and social and behavioral sciences. He pointed to the need to come up with recommendations and implement them immediately.

Among dangerous indicators, according to Shtayyeh, is the high proportion of private sector employees who work with less than the minimum wage to reach 38.1%, that is about 134 thousand workers, with an average monthly wage of 1030 shekels in the West and 770 shekels in Gaza.

73% without work contracts

He added that about 73% of employees in the private sector in the Palestinian territories work without written employment contracts, which risks their rights and deprives them of the sense of job security.

Shtayyeh said that the occupation, strangulating the economy, stealing Palestinian capabilities, disrupting investment opportunities, control over large tracts of land, not to mention the blockade of Gaza and separating it from the West Bank and delaying its reconstruction, is responsible for distortions of the Palestinian economy.