West Bank Employment Rises 4.6% to 733,000 as Tourism-Linked Sectors Recover
Updated
Updated · The Jerusalem Post · Aug 12
West Bank Employment Rises 4.6% to 733,000 as Tourism-Linked Sectors Recover
1 articles · Updated · The Jerusalem Post · Aug 12
Summary
West Bank employment rose 4.6% in Q2 2026 to 733,000, with 680,000 working locally—about 27,000 more than in the first quarter, Palestinian statistics showed.
Commerce, restaurants and hotels drove the gain as sectors hit hard after Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 attack and the collapse in tourism began to recover.
Unemployment still stood at 27.9%—about 284,000 people—and labor underutilization reached 29.9%, showing the jobs rebound has not restored the labor market.
Wages also remained weak: average daily pay in the West Bank was NIS 134.3, just over half Israel's minimum daily wage of NIS 257.75.
Job quality stayed fragile, with 15.5% of private-sector wage workers earning below the NIS 1,880 monthly minimum and 42.1% lacking employment contracts.