Gaza to Introduce Short Term Jobs Program, Unemployment Rate Likely to Drop

Gaza City: Ahead of its disastrous employment rate, Palestinian Labor Minister Mamoun Abu Shahla has announced that the first phase of registration process of a short-term employment project will start soon. He had declared the initiative earlier this month and promised to hire more than 4000 university graduates and blue-collared laborers for positions suitable with their qualifications.

“The project’s first phase provides 4,000 jobs for graduates, blue-collar workers and technicians equally, each 2,000, in the health and education sectors and municipalities, as well as economic facilities affected by the 2014 Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” said the Labor Minister. He also clarified that the process of employment will be done by August 2016 after assessing the ministry’s employment priorities.

In May 2016, Shahla had vowed to fund the employment program every six month with 60 million shekels, i.e. equivalent to $23 million.  Reports are that the Palestine government will look for foreign funds in between, especially by Arab countries, to run the employment program in case of emergency and in order to development of the initiative.

Gaza has been announced to have the highest unemployment rate in the world by the World Bank last year. The economy of the small coastal country was even termed ‘on verge of collapse’ by them too. A data released by World Bank, it was said that 43% of Gaza's 1.8 million residents are unemployed. Number of child labor had equally elevated, with around 10,000 kids, aged between 10 and 17, have dropped schools and works to earn bread for the family.

According to sources, youth unemployment is likely to drop down with this initiative; as job seekers and university graduates will be introduced to job market with the initiative.

On the other hand, many see the initiative as a temporary solution and will not facilitate the country in long run. “The employment projects announced by the government are temporary. They do not achieve sustainable development, nor do they contribute effectively to resolving the unemployment problem. Yet, in light of the economic conditions and high unemployment rates, they temporarily contribute to finding jobs, which may give the graduates and unemployed a glimpse of hope to provide for themselves, if just for a limited time, “ said Maher Tabbah, media manager and public relations officer at Gaza Chamber of Commerce.