Refugee Net, which, according to its website, is a “Palestinian Refugee News Network in Lebanon”, wrote about unemployment among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in May 2022:
“A member of the political leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement «Hamas» in Lebanon, Mahmoud Taha, said that «unemployment rates have reached nearly 80 percent among Palestinian refugees, even refugees who work are living a very difficult reality, because the Lebanese pound has lost its value in light of the inflation in the country.” [In-house translation. The author is an Arabic native speaker]
ORIGINAL SOURCE:
ىتح ،ينينيطسلفلا ينئجلالا ينب ةئلماب 08 براقي ام لىإ تلصو ةلاطبلا تلادعم" نإ ،هط دومحم ،نانبل في "سماح" ةيملاسلإا ةمواقلما ةكرحل ةيسايسلا ةدايقلا وضع لاق
."دلابلا في لصاحلا ءلاغلا لظ في اهتميق تدقف ةينانبللا ةيرللا نلأ ؛ادج ابعص اعقاو شيعي لمعي يذلا ئجلالا
(Source: Refugee Net: Mahmoud Taha: Unemployment rates have reached 80% among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, May 4, 2022)
Based on a 2018-2019 survey on Labour Force and Household Living Conditions by the Lebanese Central Administration of Statistics, UN women reported in 2021 that:
“Work in Lebanon is highly informal, particularly amongst low-skilled Lebanese and non Lebanese populations. Overwhelmingly, non-Lebanese populations such as Syrians, Palestinians, and migrants are more likely than Lebanese to work in the informal sector [Informal Employment is defined as: the share of workers not contributing to social security], with no social security coverage, no paid sick leave, and no paid annual leave (91% versus 28% for Lebanese employees overall). Here there is a significant gender difference as well, as 89% of non-Lebanese women work informally compared to 49% of non-Lebanese men.
Prior to the economic crisis, foreign nationals in Lebanon held a larger percentage of jobs than Lebanese citizens, however, Palestinian and Syrian women were economically active at very low rates. The most recently reported labour force participation was 17% for Palestinian refugee women from Lebanon and 14% for Palestine refugee women from Syria (PRS) (UNRWA 2016). The unemployment rate for PRS was double that of Palestine refugees from Lebanon, with female PRS reporting a 68% unemployment rate (UNRWA 2016). Both employed Palestinian men (39%) and women (27%) most commonly work in elementary occupations (daily work), and women are far more commonly found in professional jobs (21% of women compared to 5% of men). For Syrian refugee women, the labour force participation rate stands at 12% (UN Women 2020d). As with the Lebanese population, there is geographic variation, since Palestinian and Syrian women in Beirut and Mount Lebanon had the highest labour force participation rates amongst the governorates.
(Source: UN Women, “European Union Sector Specific Gender Analysis: An in-depth sectoral examination of feminist and women’s rights issues in Lebanon”, July 2021, pp. 30-31)