A survey by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on the gap between education and the labor market was released on Sunday with shock indicators. The head of the agency, Ola Awad, said: "It sounds the alarm and calls for an integrated action between all parties concerned. .
According to the study, the unemployment rate among graduates reached at the end of 2018 to 50%, compared with 31% of the overall rate of unemployment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The results of the study were presented at a workshop called by the Central Bureau of Statistics in the presence of Education Minister Marwan Awartani, Labor Nasri Abu Jaish, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Ihab Al Qabaj, and the representative of the International Labor Organization in Palestine.
Awad said that during the last two decades, the results of the study indicate that there is a rapid acceleration in the percentage of individuals (19 years and above) who have an average diploma or higher from about 13% in 1997 to about 18% in 2007 and reached 25% 2017. This upward trend applies to both sexes, as well as to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, demonstrating the supply-side inflation in the Palestinian labor market by increasing the influx of tertiary graduates, as well as the natural increase in the population, Increasing the number of participants in the labor force ".
She added: The labor force survey data indicate that about 40 thousand people enter the labor market every year, about a third of them are young. In contrast, the Palestinian labor market can not accommodate more than 8,000 jobs at the maximum. Means that there is a large gap between the number of young people with a diploma of medium and higher versus the jobs needed by the local market annually.
Among the different specializations, the highest percentage of unemployment among graduates is in the fields of Humanities, Journalism and Media, with 60% and 32% respectively among males, 82% and 83% respectively among females, followed by Educational Sciences and Teacher Education with 51% Males and 81% of females. Commercial and administrative businesses accounted for 37% of males and 80% of females. Social and behavioral sciences accounted for 40% of males and 78% of females. Computer accounted for 43% among males and 75% among females. Males and 73% females. Engineering and engineering occupations were 39% among males and 69% among females For females, 29% for males and 69% for females. Mathematics and statistics are 49% among males, 63% among females, 38% for males and 60% for females, 39% for males and 59% for females. For males and 58% for females.
In addition to the quantitative depth of the gap between education and the labor market, the study noted a significant decline in the quality of university education. The period of university study lacks training in the areas required by the labor market within the disciplines that are taught and the pursuit of financial profit by universities, especially through parallel education, With a low level of education, enrollment in specializations with a high level of education, in addition to the spread of research centers used by students to prepare studies, research and graduation projects.
For his part, Abu Jaish described unemployment as "a great challenge to the government and society," blaming mainly the occupation and its policies.
Abu Jaish said that the government is actively working in partnership with all concerned parties to reduce unemployment. He pointed to a number of considerations that contribute to the rise in unemployment, especially among graduates. The most prominent of these are: pumping thousands of graduates annually in closed specialties, weak demand, Weakness of the vocational and technical training system, weak orientation to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship, absence of supporting policies, poor guidance and guidance for students before joining universities.
Abu Jaysh said that the government´s vision to reduce unemployment is based on a number of pillars, the most important of which are: full linkage between education and the labor market, study of the trends of the students in early stages and taking into account their wishes, and develop awareness programs aimed at changing the community perception of vocational and technical training, The labor market, and stop the repetition of disciplines and even close some of them.
