Rural wage employment : is there a premium for agriculture?

Abstract EN

This paper investigates the determinants of rural and non-rural wages using the quarterly Labor Force Survey (LFS) collected by the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

We estimate the wage equation for rural and non-rural workers controlling for structural, socioeconomic, and political factors.

Results show that employment in agriculture reduces wages for both rural and non-rural workers.

The work in Israel (premium) is shown to raise average wages by 60-70 % for non-rural workers and 40-50 % for rural workers.

Despite this finding, the paper recommends reducing dependence on employment in Israel as a long-term solution to unemployment and to improve higher education for both rural and non-rural workers.