UN report reveals rising unemployment and deepening poverty in Palestine

The International Labour Organization (ILO) announced that the unemployment rate in the West Bank during the first quarter of 2025 reached 31.7% for men and 33.7% for women. In a report analyzing the impact of the two-year Israeli occupation’s aggression on Gaza on the West Bank economy and labor market, the ILO noted a sharp deterioration in livelihoods, with rising unemployment rates, declining incomes, and worsening poverty among Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The report indicated that the war and its accompanying restrictions caused a 29% decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) in the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole between the first two quarters of 2023 and 2025, with the West Bank recording a 17.1% contraction.

It revealed that the situation worsened during the second quarter of this 2025, with Israeli restrictions tightened across the West Bank. Living standards declined, with real per capita income in the West Bank declining by more than 20% compared to 2023.

The ILO predicted a further deterioration in the labor market in the West Bank, with the overall unemployment rate expected to reach 38.5%, affecting more than 363,000 Palestinians. It added that the West Bank recorded modest growth of 9.9% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, but output remains well below pre-war levels.