Thousands apply for short-term jobs program in Gaza
In a move to address the unemployment crisis, the Gaza government has created temporary employment projects that aim to provide temporary relief and stimulate the economy.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a press conference in Gaza on July 12, Palestinian Labor Minister Mamoun Abu Shahla announced the start of the registration process for the first phase of a short-term employment project: hiring 4,000 university graduates and laborers for positions to last six months.
Abu Shahla told Al-Monitor, “The project’s first phase provides 4,000 jobs for graduates, blue-collar workers and technicians equally, each 2,000, in the health and education sectors and municipalities, as well as economic facilities affected by the 2014 Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
He added, “This number of people will be actually hired in early August 2016, after their names are selected and the ministry’s employment priorities and needs are determined.”
Abu Shahla had announced in May that the ministry's employment program would be funded by the government with 60 million shekels ($23 million) every six months. The government will be looking for additional foreign funds provided by foreign or Arab countries in order to be able to continue with the project in case it ran out of money.
