Bassi: Evacuees' unemployment ticking bomb

A clear majority of Gaza evacuees, some 88 percent, remain unemployed four months after Gaza disengagement
Tamar Barzilai

Gaza evacuees are suffering from massive unemployment, and are unable to find time to look for jobs due to their need to find housing and schools for their children, new statistics have revealed.

"The problem of employment as a result of the disengagement is ticking time bomb and it may become an impossible social problem," said Disengagement Authority Head Yonatan Bassi during a Finance Ministry meeting in Jerusalem Tuesday.

According to Bassi, before the Gaza pullout, the Gaza Coastal Council received subsidies to the tune of NIS 28 million (about USD six million), similar to the sum received by the city Bnei Barak, which has 150,000 residents. The population of the Gaza settlement was around 8,000 people.

Evacuated residents are now forced to deal with a costlier standard of living, such as council taxes, and rent expenses, said Bassi.

He added that in the four months following the disengagement, 80 percent of the Gaza evacuees who wished to continue with their communities have completed their relocation to permanent homes.

Disturbing statistics

According to a report released by the government, some 85 percent of Gush Katif residents were employed before the disengagement, compared with 22 percent who are currently working.

The figures also show that 27 percent of the evacuees have been offered jobs since the pullout. Most of those received one job offer since the disengagement.

The authors of the report concluded that the mass unemployment is due to the fact that many evacuees have been unable to seek employment as they were preoccupied with finding housing and education solutions, which were more urgent needs.

The authors added that they did not foresee a major improvement in the situation of the evacuees in three months time, and according to the report's forecast, just 34 percent of them will be employed by this time.