Gaza unemployment surges to 80 percent as economy collapses, UN agency says

Unemployment in Gaza has soared to nearly 80 percent since the Israel war on Gaza erupted, with the devastated enclave's economy in almost total collapse, the International Labour Organization said on Thursday.

Economic output has shrunk by 85 percent since the Israeli assault began a year ago, plunging almost the entire 2.3 million population into poverty, the United Nations agency said.

The conflict has caused "unprecedented and wide-ranging devastation on the labour market and the wider economy across the Occupied Palestinian Territory", the ILO said, referring to Gaza and the West Bank.

In the West Bank, the unemployment rate averaged 34.9 percent between October 2023 and the end of September 2024, while its economy has contracted by 21.7 percent compared with the previous 12 months, the ILO said.

Before the crisis, the unemployment rate in Gaza was 45.3 percent and 14 percent in the West Bank, according to the Geneva-based organisation.

Palestinians in Gaza either lost their jobs entirely or picked up informal and irregular work "primarily centred on the provision of essential goods and services," the ILO said.

Reporting by Reuters