Gaza unemployment surges to 80% as economy collapses: UN agency

Unemployment in Gaza has soared to nearly 80 percent since the start of the Israeli brutal war on the tiny besieged enclave, with the devastated enclave's economy in almost total collapse, the International Labour Organization said.

Economic output has shrunk by 85 percent since the war 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 occupied 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.

Impact will be felt for generations to come

People 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.

Israel's brutal war in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. Two-thirds of Gaza's pre-war structures - over 163,000 buildings - have been damaged or flattened, according to UN satellite data.

The Israeli aggression in Gaza has spilled into the occupied West Bank, where Israeli barriers to movement of persons and goods, coupled with broader trade restrictions and supply-chain disruptions, have severely impacted the economy, the ILO said.

"The impact of the war in Gaza has taken a toll far beyond loss of life, desperate humanitarian conditions and physical destruction," said ILO regional director for Arab states Ruba Jaradat.

"It has fundamentally altered the socio-economic landscape of Gaza, while also severely impacting the West Bank’s economy and labour market. The impact will be felt for generations to come."