Chapter 3: West Bank and Gaza: Links among Income, Jobs, and Food 87
Changes in food insecurity driven by income shocks during lockdown differ significantly. Households that faced an income reduction during lockdown faced a 10 percentage point increase in the probability of being food insecure compared with households without income decreases. In addition, shocks in the employment of the main income earner during the lockdown help explain some of the differences in the change of food insecurity. Households whose main income earner worked less hours, stopped working, or did not work before lockdown faced higher increases in food insecurity than households whose main income earners kept working their usual number of hours during lockdown. We also find significant differences between households whose main income earner was able to work but worked less hours and households whose main income earners were not able to work, lost their job, or had no job before lockdown. Finally, consistent with our previous analysis, we find significant differences in the change in food insecurity between the West Bank and Gaza. Even after controlling for other characteristics, the increase in the probability of being food insecure was 8.4 percentage points higher in the West Bank than in Gaza (figure 3.16 and table 3A.1 in the annex).
Conclusion The 2020 RAPS underscores that COVID-19 seriously disrupted the livelihoods of Palestinian households through the labor market channel between March and May 2020, the period of emergency, or the lockdown. Our in-depth analysis of the phone survey and the 2018 SEFSec find that the pandemic affected not only the poorest households but also those that were relatively better-off prior to the start of the pandemic. What follows are a few key takeaways to help guide future targeted interventions. First, our analysis suggests that although 20 percent of previously employed main income earners lost their job during the period of emergency, employment losses do not fully explain the observed income loss during the lockdown. Rather, another major factor is at work: changes in the demand for work for workers who had not lost their jobs. This helps explain some of the differences in the impacts of the pandemic on household incomes between the West Bank and Gaza. Among previously employed main income earners, less than half were able to work at least partially, and only a fraction were able to work as usual. In the West Bank, 40 percent of the previously employed main income earners reported still having a job but not being able to work. In Gaza, however, a higher share of main income earners who stopped working may have lost their jobs permanently.
