Palestinian Economic Bulletin
122,057 Enterprises Operated in Palestine in 2013
10 dec 2014
According to a recent PCBS survey, in 2013 a total of 122,057 (relatively unchanged from 2012) private and non-governmental, excluding agriculture, enterprises operated in Palestine. Of them, 83,401 (68.3%) were in the West Bank and 38,656 (31.7%) in the Gaza Strip. These enterprises employed 386,794 workers: 260,904 (67.5%) in the West Bank and 125,890 (32.5%) in the Gaza Strip. In terms of sectoral distribution, more than half of enterprises (56.5%) operated in internal trade, followed by 27.2% in services and 13.1% in industrial activities. These were also the sectors which hired the largest number of employees though with some variability: 39.5% of all employees worked in enterprises operating in internal trade, 33.5% in services, and 20.6% in industry. The table below shows the distribution of enterprises, employees, and gross value added by economic sector.
Table: Distribution of Enterprises, Employed Persons and Gross Value Added by Economic Activity, 2013 (%)
|
Economic Activity
|
Number of Enterprises
|
Number of Employed Persons
|
Gross Value Added
|
|
Internal Trade
|
56.5%
|
39.5%
|
35.8%
|
|
Services
|
27.2%
|
33.5%
|
21.8%
|
|
Industrial Activities
|
13.1%
|
20.6%
|
25.2%
|
|
Transportation and Storage
|
0.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.5%
|
|
Information and Communications
|
0.5%
|
2.1%
|
11.4%
|
|
Construction
|
0.4%
|
2.6%
|
4.3%
|
Source: PCBS
The total output value of enterprises equaled $10.59 billion in 2013, an increase of 5.2% from the previous year. The gross value added amounted to $6.45 billion, largely unchanged from 2012. The West Bank enterprises contributed as much as 79.1% of the total output value and 81.6% of the total gross value added. As the table above shows, the largest economic activities in terms of gross value added were internal trade (35.8%), industry (25.2%), and services (21.8%). In addition, the average output per employed person was $27,372, which marks an increase of 3.3% from 2012. Meanwhile, the average value added per employee equaled $16,685, which was a 2.0% decrease from the previous year. The economic activity with the highest value added per employed person was information and communications ($89,009), whereas the lowest was services ($10,843).
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