50% of the Palestinian households in the Camps from relatives living aboard.
Foreign workers on the other hand send their earning out of Lebanon to
their countries of origin in order to support their families.
à ‚¬ Supplying labor of varying skills for seasonal agricultural demands as
well as for major reconstruction projects. This brings considerable profits for
Lebanese companies, employers, and employment agencies and the workers'
wages of roughly $18 per day are often spent immediately for food,
health care and rent. Palestinian refugees often work in small businesses,
generally considered as a foundation of economic growth in any economy
and they contribute to "invigorating" the areas surrounding their camps by
creating low-cost markets for low-income and other marginalized
communities in Lebanon.
As a large percentage of Lebanese continue to leave the country for study
and employment, this creates serious gaps in Lebanon's economy as well as a
steady demand for skilled and unskilled labor in the Lebanese labor market.
Palestinians refugees are willing and able to fill this chasm.
At the same time, Palestinians represent no deductions from the Lebanon's
welfare system, as is sometimes claimed, and in fact they unjustly benefit the Lebanese economy by paying social security while being denied by law any services. Some Palestinians unable to work in Lebanon manage to leave and find employment elsewhere, depriving the Lebanese economy of a young,
qualified and motivated workforce that could greatly contribute to its socio-
economic development.
refugees in the Lebanese labor market have been willfully underestimated
through political resistance to granting them basic rights.
Granting Palestinians the right to work will not take Lebanese jobs.
In stark contrast to the non-Palestinian work force, Palestinians represent
a numerically modest fraction and pose no threat to job opportunities for
Lebanese employees. Indeed, granting the right to work which includes
improving the work conditions and safeguards for the Palestinians currently
working in the so-called "informal sector" (i.e., illegal employment or black
market rendering them potentially liable for exploitation, dismissal, fines
and/or jail) will also benefit Lebanese who are forced to compete against
below minimum wages earners who are non-Lebanese.
Palestinian workers constitute only 3-5% of the total work force in Lebanon
which is estimated at around 1.1 Million. The size of the foreign labor force,
excluding Palestinians, is conservatively estimated at 600,000. Estimates
for the number of Syrian laborers vary from 200,000 to one million.
The Palestinian labor force is between 55,000 and 85,000 (based on estimates of the resident Palestinian refugee population of between 225,000 and 330,000 Palestinian refugees, of which 69% are of working age and of these approximately 37% are employed at least 5 hours per week.
Most of the Palestinians who find work do so in the 12 refugee camps
or more than three dozen gatherings. Palestinians work mainly in services,
instruction, industry, transport, and agriculture jobs not generally the
ones most Lebanese are employed in or would accept to enter. For example,
the construction sector employs 19% of all Palestinian workers, and only
0.8% of all Lebanese. Manufacturing employs 13% of the Palestinian
workforce and only 8.5% of the Lebanese. Agriculture employs 11% of the
Palestinian workers, and less than 2% of Lebanese.
In Lebanon, agricultural workers are excluded from the application of the
Labor Law. Construction and agriculture, two of the main sectors in which
Palestinians work, employ mostly daily paid workers. Legislation granting
the right to work to Palestinians will not significantly affect this group
of employees.
Despite the fact that Lebanon's severe restrictive policies were meant to
exclude Palestinians from the labor market, they have had little effect on
keeping the refugees completely idle. Most Palestinian households report at
least one person per household works. The fact that Palestinians are already
working, albeit informally and sometimes illegally, indicates that legalizing
their status and providing them with the full right to work would not
cause a loss of jobs available for Lebanese citizens but only the regularization of the current situation for the protection of both.
Palestinians provide a very positive but underutilized contribution to the
Lebanese economy.
A win-win scenario-additional benefits for Lebanon.
While the unemployment rate among Palestinians is around 15%, a far larger
percentage of around 35% of the Palestinian workforce (60% of the men and
12% of the women) are underutilized workers. Apart from the unemployed,
these consist of discouraged persons (wanting to work but believing there
is none), visibly under-employed (time related, i.e. working less than 35 hrs a
week) or invisibly under-employed (low-productivity jobs and/or over-
qualification).
By granting the Right to Work which includes improving the work conditions
and safeguards for the Palestinians currently working in the "informal
sector", it will also benefit Lebanese who are forced to compete against below minimum wages earners who are non-Lebanese workers. Lebanese
employers often prefer to engage foreign workers saving money by paying
wages lower than legal minimum wage while avoiding registration in
social security system. Such low cost Palestinians risk undermining Lebanese
wage earners with similar qualifications
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