West Bank employment rebounds after Oct. 7 drop, but wages, protection remain weak, PCBS data shows

Employment in the West Bank has rebounded, showing a 4.6% increase in the second quarter of 2026 and bringing the Palestinian workforce to 733,000, according to new data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). The rise is attributed to increased activity in the commerce, restaurant, and hotel sectors. These industries were severely impacted by a plunge in tourism following the regional instability triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Before the October 7 attack, cities like Bethlehem, where tourism accounts for 70% of annual income, suffered substantial losses, compounded by the earlier COVID-19 pandemic. A 2024 report by UN Trade and Development indicated that 96% of businesses experienced decreased activity and 42.1% reduced their workforces after the attack, leading to the loss of 306,000 jobs and pushing unemployment to 32%. This was in addition to the 140,000 Palestinian workers whose permits to work in Israel were revoked. Currently, 680,000 Palestinians are employed in the local market, an increase of approximately 27,000 workers from the first quarter. The unemployment rate for those aged 15 and above stood at 27.9% in the second quarter, with total labor underutilization at about 29.9%. The unemployment rate for men was 27.2%, while for women it was 30.5%. Despite the increase in employment, wages in the West Bank remain significantly lower than in Israel. The average daily wage in the West Bank is NIS 134.3, which is just over half of Israel's minimum daily wage of NIS 257.75. Approximately 53,000 Palestinians worked in Israel or Israeli settlements during the second quarter, a slight increase from the first quarter. The average daily wage for these workers in Israel and settlements fell slightly to NIS 263.4 from NIS 287.1 in the previous quarter. Palestinians in the West Bank worked an average of 41.6 hours per week and 22.4 days per month.