Employment in the West Bank rose by 4.6% in the second quarter of 2026, bringing the Palestinian workforce to 733,000, according to new data published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Tuesday.
The bureau attributed the rise to increased employment in the commerce, restaurant and hotel sectors, which were heavily affected when tourism to the West Bank plummeted amid the regional instability triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Already struggling with the loss of tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, cities such as Bethlehem, where tourism accounts for 70% of annual income, suffered major losses.
Following the October 7 massacre, 96% of businesses reported decreased activity and 42.1% reduced their workforces, according to a 2024 report by UN Trade and Development.
The decline amounted to the loss of 306,000 jobs and pushed unemployment to 32%. These losses came in addition to the 140,000 Palestinian workers with permits to work in Israel whose permits were revoked following October 7.
The majority of Palestinians, 680,000, were employed in the local market, an increase of around 27,000 workers from the first quarter.
Employment increases but wages remain low
The unemployment rate among those aged 15 and above stood at 27.9% in the second quarter, amounting to around 284,000 people, while total labor underutilization stood at about 29.9%.
According to International Labour Organization standards, the unemployment rate among men in the West Bank reached 27.2%, compared with 30.5% among women.
Though employment is increasing in the West Bank, wages remain low compared with Israel, with the average daily wage standing at NIS 134.3, just over half of Israel’s minimum daily wage of NIS 257.75.
Around 53,000 Palestinians were working in Israel or Israeli settlements in the West Bank during the second quarter, an increase of around 5,000 workers compared with the first quarter. Around 35,000 of these workers were employed in Israel.
The average daily wage for wage employees in Israel and Israeli settlements fell slightly to NIS 263.4 in the second quarter of 2026, compared with NIS 287.1 in the first quarter.
The survey also found that Palestinians in the West Bank worked an average of 41.6 hours per week and 22.4 days per month.
According to the bureau, 66.1% of employed persons were wage employees, 23.4% were self-employed, 6% were employers, and 4.5% were unpaid family members.
A significant 42.1% of wage employees in the private sector were hired without an employment contract, while only 35.5% said they received contributions to a pension fund or financial compensation upon leaving their position.
Less than half of female wage employees receive paid maternity leave
Additionally, less than half (49.8%) of female wage employees received paid maternity leave, despite being entitled to 10 weeks of paid maternity leave and protections against termination while on leave.
More than one in 10 (15.5%) wage employees in the private sector received a monthly wage below the minimum wage of NIS 1,880 in the West Bank during the second quarter of 2026.