Gaza (Gaza Strip), December 29: A Palestinian official announced on Tuesday that the unemployment rate in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has exceeded 50 percent in 2021 with more than 250,000 Palestinians unemployed.
Maher al-Taba'a, director of the Chamber of Commerce in Gaza, said in a statement that an earlier World Bank report showed that the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, has the world's highest unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate has soared to even 78 percent among graduates aged between 20 to 29 who have a certificate with an intermediate diploma or a bachelor's degree, al-Taba'a added.
Meanwhile, the poverty rate in the Gaza Strip has grown to 64 percent amid the Israeli blockade and an internal division between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, he noted.
The rate of food instability among the Gaza Strip households has reached 69 percent, according to the Palestinian official.
The Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million Palestinians, has been under an Israeli blockade since Hamas seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.
Source: Xinhua