West Bank Workers Leaving Israel for Jobs in Arab Countries

For the first time since the Six-Day War. Arab workers on the West Bank are leaving the Israeli labor market in substantial numbers for jobs in Jordan and other Arab countries. The movement is attributed to the unprecedented economic boom in Jordan and the Arab oil-producing states where, for the first time in the region’s economic history, salaries are as much as 10 times higher than those paid in Israel.

Israel’s deteriorating economic situation and the austerity measures undertaken by the government, which affect the West Bank, are also factors in the eastward movement of skilled Arab workers. According to reports in the Arabic press, 13,000 university trained Arabs and other skilled laborers have left the West Bank for Jordan and other countries. Israeli sources have been unable to confirm the figures because the number of Arabs crossing the Jordan River bridges in each direction remains the same as it has been in past years.

But there are several indications that the West Bank economy which has flourished under Israeli administration since 1967. is on the decline. Figures released recently by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed an 11 percent drop in the West Bank employment for the third quarter (July-September) of this year compared to the corresponding period in 1974. A total of 70,000 West Bank workers were employed in the third quarter of 1975.

The number of job openings for West Bank Arabs is expected to decline further as a result of yesterday’s Cabinet decision to slash expenditures in the administered territories from IL 500 million to IL 300 million and to tighten up tax collecting procedures there. The military government announced only last week that it would seek alternative employment for West Bank Arabs who lose their jobs as a result of the recession in Israel’s construction industry Most West Bank and Gaza Strip Arabs working in Israel are employed in the construction trades.