Disenagement. Hard to recover
Photo: Avi Cohen
Study: Gaza evacuees earn less than average
Survey conducted by Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry reveals slight drop in unemployment rate among Israelis evacuated from Gaza, but says more than 58% of evacuees earn less than before disengagement
The number of unemployed among Israelis evacuated from the Gaza Strip
dropped from 18.8% to 16.2% in the past year, according to a study published Tuesday by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry ahead of the release of the interim report composed by the state commission of inquiry into the handling of the evacuees.
According to the survey, conducted by the ministry's research and economy administration among 1,591 evacuees, about four years after the disengagement the employment rate among people evacuated from Gaza and the northern Samaria stood at 63.2%, compared to 62.8% the previous year.
The study also found that evacuees who do work earn less than the average in the Israeli economy.
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Before the pullout, however, the employment rate among Jews in the Gaza Strip stood at about 85%.
The study also revealed that the evacuees earned an average monthly salary of NIS 5,201 in 2009, while the average salary among Jewish workers this year stood at NIS 8,308.
More than 58% of evacuees earned in their latest job less than the monthly salary they had received before the disengagement, and reported their dissatisfaction with this situation, while 21.5% said they had improved their salary.
About half of the survey's respondents continue to receive psychological and psychiatric treatment following the disengagement. Thirty-seven percent of the evacuees said they were having trouble sleeping due to their worries, 31% reported of a sense of anxiety, 24% said they had lost their self-confidence and 19% reported feeling depressed.
