The unemployment rate among individuals aged 20-29 years with an intermediate diploma or bachelor's degree (BA) reached 54% in 2020: 35% in West Bank and 78% in Gaza Strip, while it was about 53% in 2019 at the national level, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in a report on educational fields and labor market among individuals aged 20-29 years in 2020.

It said that it takes graduates about 10 to 25 months before getting their first labor chance.

The PCBS said that in the 2020/2021 scholastic year, there were 84,598 applicants for the General Certificate Exam, the Tawjihi, more than half will be later either continuing their higher education at home or abroad or seek work in the local market.

In scholastic year 2018/2019 the number of students who graduated from the Palestinian higher education institutions was 42,394. At the same time, the local market accommodates only 8,000 job opportunities for graduates 20-29 years.

COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020 also affected that rate as there will be a loss of about 10,000 job opportunities instead of creating new opportunities.

In 2020, business administration is the field where most students aged 20-29 years were enrolled, whether for intermediate diploma or BA. In the past decade, the majority of the students also majored in business administration. The highest unemployment rates among graduates aged 20-29 years with an intermediate diploma or BA degree in Palestine is in mathematics and statistics.

In 2020, the highest unemployment rates among male graduates aged 20-29 years with an intermediate diploma or bachelor’s degree in Palestine is in welfare by 63%, while the highest unemployment rates among female graduates aged 20-29 years with an intermediate diploma or bachelor’s degree in Palestine is in humanities (excluding languages) by 86%.

The highest rate of unemployment among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor’s degree or an intermediate diploma in the Gaza Strip was in mathematics and statistics by 100%, followed by social and behavioral sciences by 95%. The highest rate of unemployment among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor’s degree or an intermediate diploma in West Bank was in mathematics and statistics by 74%, followed by education by 54%.

In 2020, the highest period of unemployment for graduates aged 20-29 years in Palestine with an intermediate diploma or bachelor’s degree was in humanities (excluding languages), being 25 months. The lowest period was in mathematics and statistics with 10 months.