Notes (Chapter 2)

  1. The present survey, based on a randomly selected sample of the population in Gaza and the West Bank refugee camps, can give only relative results as percentage distributions. Estimation of absolute results - e.g. the size of the labour force in the survey areas is crucially dependent on the accuracy of estimates of the total population in the survey areas.
  2. Heiberg, Marianne and Geir Øvesen (1993), Palestinian Society in Gaza, West Bank and Arab Jerusalem: A Survey of Living Conditions, Oslo: FAFO report 151. p. 182. The survey upon which this book is based, will subsequently be referred to as FALCOT 92.
  3. Heiberg, Marianne and Geir Øvesen (1993), p. 189.
  4. Heiberg, Marianne and Geir Øvesen (1993), endnotes 43 and 44, page 217.
  5. ILO's labour force classification is based on a person's activities the last week prior to the survey. In the discussion below the concept "employed persons" will apply to all persons in the (adult) survey population who worked at least one week in a one month reference period, regardless of age or labour force status. The reference period either refers to the last month prior to the survey (October/November 1993), or the same month in 1992.

    The use of one month as a reference period for employment characteristics was made to reduce vulnerability to sudden political events or possible seasonal variations. In general the two groups "labour force" and "employed persons" overlap. Ninety-four per cent of "employed persons" were classified as labour force members, and 85% of labour force members belonged to the group of "employed persons".

    Work types and sectors where many workers have very sporadic labour activity may, however, be under-represented among "employed persons" compared to the "labour force". This may in particular be the case for workers who receive daily wages.

    The number of persons holding secondary jobs was very low in 1992 and 1993, (1.5% and 2.5% of employed persons respectively). Employment thus refers exclusively to "main" employment in the reference period.

  6. Comparisons between 1993 and 1992 are based mainly on questions concerning 1993 and 1992 employment patterns for the persons interviewed in the 1993 survey. As a result, comparisons across the 1993 survey data set may under-estimate the extent of changes due to a plausible tendency among respondents to report the same employment pattern for both years.

    For the Gaza Strip, data from FALCOT 92 (another sample, but the same sampling frame) have also been used as a reference. Comparison between the two surveys can be made for Gaza only, due to the small sample of the West Bank refugee camps in FALCOT 92. A possible source of error when compairing results between the two surveys would be variations in classification practice for variables with many answer alternatives, in particular, for type and sector of employment.

  7. World Bank (1993), Developing the Occupied Territories, Volume 2, Chapter 5 and Annex module a) and c).
  8. Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (1987), Projections of Population in Judea, Samaria and Gaza Area up to 2002, Based on the Population in 1982, Special Series No. 802.
  9. World Bank (1993), Developing the Occupied Territories, Volume 6, Page 11. Tables from Abdel-Tattah Abu Shokor, "External Migration from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and its Economic and Social Impact". Arab Thought Forum, (1990), in Arabic, assembled by the World Bank.
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