Over 23% unemployed Palestinians in Q3

Unemployment rate based on International Labor Organization (ILO) standards reached 23.7% in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the third quarter of this year, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said Thursday. However, according to the relaxed definition of unemployment, which also includes people seeking employment but not finding it, the unemployment rate for the third quarter was 27.1%, up from 24.5% in the previous quarter, WAFA news agency reported. The PCBS said that while 1.161 million people were employed during the third quarter, about 275,000 were unemployed - 145,000 in the West Bank and 130,000 in Gaza Strip. Labor force participation rate in the West Bank was 44.9% and 41.4% in Gaza Strip, said the PCBS. The gap in the participation rate between males and females was still very big and reached 69.5% for males compared with 17.1% for females. Unemployment rate in Gaza Strip was 32.5% compared with 19.1% in the West Bank, and the unemployment rate for males in Palestine was 20.3% compared with 37.8% for females. The highest unemployment rate in the third quarter was 43.1% among youth aged between 20 and 24 years. For years of schooling, the unemployment rate among females with 13 years of schooling or more was 49.9%. The highest unemployment rate in the West Bank governorates was in Hebron with 22.3%. In Gaza Strip, the highest unemployment rate was in Khan Younis with 35.8%.