Sunday, November 24, 2013

Employment Data

Not quite what you'd expect from an oppressive regime:

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) issued in a press release, the results of the Labour Force Survey July- September 2013:

Number of employed in Israel and Israeli settlements about 103 thousand in the 3rd quarter 2013.

The number of employed persons from the West Bank employed in Israel and Israeli settlements increased from 96 thousand in the 2nd quarter 2013 to 103 thousand in the 3rd quarter 2013. Of these, 51,100 had a permit, 34,600 worked without a permit and 17,600 employed persons have an Israeli identity card or foreign passport.

The number of employees in Israeli settlements 20 thousand in the 2nd quarter and 3rd quarter 2013.

61.0% of employed in Israel and Israeli settlements work in the construction sector.

The average daily wage for persons employed in Israel and Israeli settlements increased from 172.1 NIS in the 2nd quarter 2013 to 178.9 NIS in the 3rd quarter 2013.


In other words,

 
"Nearly one in seven West Bank Arabs work for Israelis.

61% of them work in construction.

The average daily wage for those working in PA-administered areas in the West Bank is NIS 88.3 compared and NIS 59.3 in Gaza Strip. In contrast, the average daily wage for those working for Israelis increased from NIS 172.1 in the 2nd quarter to NIS 178.9 in the 3rd quarter, over double the wages of those that work in the PA areas,and a 10% increase in wages over last year. In PA areas, the wage during the same time period increased only about 1%.

I believe this is the first time that Israeli wages have doubled Palestinian Arab wages.

This means that about one third of total wages in the PA ruled areas come from Israeli employers. The impact to the PA economy if there was an international border between their state and Israel would be devastating, although the
World Bank never looks at that statistic when it blames Israel for the PA's economic woes.

Somehow, over a hundred thousand people manage to travel to Israeli-controlled areas every day, past all those checkpoints and "apartheid walls" and guard towers we keep hearing so much about. While they do have to wait in long lines to enter Israel, it is clearly worth it."

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