Back to Contents […]Questions 2 and 3 focused on the desire to have access to more sophisticated jobs and feelings of humiliation being stuck in menial jobs. Despite their overall contentment with their job situation, almost all of the participants responded with ‘strongly agree’ to the question asking whether they felt demeaned by the fact that they cannot access higher paying and more sophisticated jobs, regardless of whether or not their current occupations allow them to be financially stable. In this regard, the participants confirmed what is stated in the literature, namely that restricted employment access negatively impacts refugees’ psychological capital, emotional well-being, and perceived self-worth. Only two participants, the crowd controller and the supermarket worker, answered Question 3 with ‘disagree’. Both noted in their interviews that Palestinian refugees are oppressed and treated unfairly in the employment sector and thus, it should follow that they would feel belittled by not being allowed to work in a number of higher-level jobs. However, for them personally, they felt not demeaned by not having access to these higher-level occupations. Based on these responses, it is apparent again that it is not necessarily menial occupations by themselves that make people feel oppressed or demeaned, but rather conditions pertaining to a particular work situation, such as limited access to resources or discriminatory practices, and restrictions to certain types of higher-level jobs and education. This again illustrates the extent to which the plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is different from the plight of refugees elsewhere. The type of occupation (low level vs. high level) is not a good predictor for emotional and mental well-being, but it is the specific circumstances of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon that determine their outlook on life.” (Source: Samih Eloubeidi & Tina Kempin Reuter/ The International Journal of Human Rights, “Restricting access to employment as a human rights violation: a case study of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon”, 11 April 2022, pp. 7-10) 9.6. Is there disaggregated data on the number of stateless Palestinians in the labour market? Refugee Net, which, according to its website, is a “Palestinian Refugee News Network in Lebanon”, wrote about unemployment among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in May 2022: “A member of the political leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement «Hamas» in Lebanon, Mahmoud Taha, said that «unemployment rates have reached nearly 80 percent among Palestinian refugees, even refugees who work are living a very difficult reality, because the Lebanese pound has lost its value in light of the inflation in the country.” [In-house translation. The author is an Arabic native speaker] ORIGINAL SOURCE: ‫ حتى‬،‫ باملئة بني الالجئني الفلسطينيني‬08 ‫ إن "معدالت البطالة وصلت إىل ما يقارب‬،‫ محمود طه‬،‫قال عضو القيادة السياسية لحركة املقاومة اإلسالمية "حامس" يف لبنان‬ ."‫الالجئ الذي يعمل يعيش واقعا صعبا جدا؛ ألن اللرية اللبنانية فقدت قيمتها يف ظل الغالء الحاصل يف البالد‬ (Source: Refugee Net: Mahmoud Taha: Unemployment rates have reached 80% among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, May 4, 2022) Based on a 2018-2019 survey on Labour Force and Household Living Conditions by the Lebanese Central Administration of Statistics, UN women reported in 2021 that: “Work in Lebanon is highly informal, particularly amongst low-skilled Lebanese and non Lebanese populations. Overwhelmingly, non-Lebanese populations such as Syrians, Palestinians, and migrants are more likely than Lebanese to work in the informal sector [Informal Employment is defined as: the share of workers not contributing to social security], with no social security coverage, no paid sick leave, and no paid annual leave (91% versus 28% for Lebanese employees overall). Here there is a significant gender difference as well, as 89% of non-Lebanese women work informally compared to 49% of non-Lebanese men. 9. Access to labour market, means of basic subsistence 99