Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) 

Issued a special press release for the students who sit for  the General Secondary School Certification Examinations "Tawjihi" of the academic year 2015/2016 .

Educational fields and labor market for persons aged 20-29 years in 2015.

The international classification of education divides study disciplines into the following fields of education:

Basic programs; literacy and numeracy programs; personal development; teacher training and education; arts; humanities; social and behavioral sciences; journalism and information programs; business and administration; law; life sciences; physical sciences; mathematics and statistics; computing; engineering and engineering trades; manufacturing and processing; architecture and construction; agriculture, forestry and fishery programs; veterinary programs, health programs; social services; personal services; transportation; environmental protection and security services.

Approximately 40 thousand students graduate annually from Palestinian higher education institutions. In the 2015/2016 scholastic year, there were around 79 thousand applicants for the General Certificate Exam “Tawjihi”.

Business and Administration is the field where most male and female students aged 20-29 years enroll whether for intermediate diploma or a bachelor’s degree (BA).

In 2015, around 99 thousand males aged 20-29 years obtained an intermediate diploma or bachelor’s degree. They were specialized in the following fields of education:

Business and administration (28.5%), health (13.4%), engineering and engineering trades (11.4%), computing (6.6%), humanities (6.5%), and social and behavioral sciences (5.7%), other fields (27.9%).

In 2014, there were around 92 thousand male graduates aged 20-29 years. The majority of them majored in business and administration (26.3%).

On the other side, there were around 125 thousand female graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor’s degree or an intermediate diploma specialized in the following fields of education:

Business and administration (20.1%), teacher training and education science (19.2%), humanities (16.2%), social and behavioral sciences (11.9%), and health (8.7%), other fields (23.9%). 

In 2014, there were around 113 thousand female graduates aged 20-29 years, the majority of them majoring in teacher training and education science (21.1%).

High unemployment rates among males and females aged 20-29 years with an intermediate diploma or bachelor's degree in some fields

In 2015 the highest unemployment rates among male graduates aged 20-29 years with an intermediate diploma or bachelor’s degree in Palestine were in the following fields of education:

Humanities (52.0%), life sciences (51.5%), teacher training and education science (45.5%), journalism and information (43.4%) and mathematics and statistics (41.3%).

In 2015 the highest unemployment rates among female graduates aged 20-29 years with an intermediate diploma or bachelor’s degree were in the following fields of education:

Journalism and information (88.7%), social and behavioral sciences (79.6%), teacher training and education science (75.4%), humanities (72.0%) and mathematics and statistics (70.6%).

As for region: the highest rates of unemployment among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor’s degree or an intermediate diploma in Gaza Strip were in the following fields of education:

Social and behavioral sciences (76.6%), life sciences (75.7%), computing (75.6%), teacher training and education science (75.3%) and humanities (70.9%).

The highest unemployment rates in the West Bank for the same age group by fields of education were as follows:

Teacher training and education science (61.7%), humanities (56.9%), social and behavioral sciences (56.5%), mathematics and statistics (55.2%) and life sciences (39.8%).

Unemployment rate and period of unemployment in months for graduates (20-29) years in Palestine with an intermediate diploma or bachelor’s degree by field of education in 2015