Economic Shocks and Child Labor: Examining How Economic Shocks Affect Children' s Workforce Participation in the West Bank.
Supervisor Name
Najiba morrar
Supervisor Email
nmurar@birzeit.edu
University
Birzeit University
Research field
Economics
Bio
Najiba Murar is an economics assistant professor at Birzeit University in Palestine. She recently graduated from Eastern Mediterranean University with a Ph.D. in economics. Her research interests include gender inequality, the labor market, and economic development.
Description
In the past decade or so, Palestine has experienced numerous economic shocks that were influenced by a combination of political instability, economic restrictions, trade restrictions, as well as healthcare issues. These shocks have had a profound and multi dimensional impact on the Palestinian economy as a whole, and the Palestinian workforce in particular; severely impacting households and businesses, and often leading to the involvement of children in the workforce as a means of coping. Economic shocks are both complex and frequent in the Palestinian Territories. In the past 25 years or so, the Palestinian grounds witnessed the second intifada (between 2000 and 2005), an ongoing blockade on Gaza in 2007, the Covid-19 pandemic, an ongoing war in Gaza in 2023, revoking employment for Palestinian workers in Israel, donor aid volatility, and High inflation. These shocks have led to widespread destruction of infrastructure, restricted flow of goods, services, and people, rising unemployment, border closures, and lockdowns. The recurring nature of these shocks restricted economic growth and created significant barriers to stability and development in the Palestinian economy. For Palestinian families with limited access to resources or financial support, these economic shocks forced difficult choices as they seek ways to make ends meet. In many cases, this has led to an increased reliance on child labor as a coping strategy. The prevalence of informal labor markets, combined with limited oversight, makes it easier for children to enter low-wage, unregulated jobs. While these jobs seem essential for the family’s survival in the short term, they do come at a high cost to the children themselves, who sacrifice their education while restricting their future opportunities. This research paper aims to examine the impact of Economic shocks on the participation of child labor in the workforce across the West Bank.
