A Survey of Palestinian Industry: The Labor Force before 1948 (Nakba). NUMBER OF WAGE EARNERS IN EACH BRANCH OF INDUSTRY, 1939 AND 1942 before Nakba. British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 507. Chapter XIII: Section 4

CHAPTER XIII.

C. The labour force.

108. The growth of a labour force not engaged in agriculture is reflected in the number of persons engaged enumerated in the censuses of industry taken in the years 1939 and 1942, which are shown in the following table :-

1939 1942 Increase %
Jewish 13,678 37,778 176
Concessions 2,619 3,400 30
Non-Jewish 4,117 8,804 111
--- --- ---
Total 20,414 49,977 145 It should be noted that the census of industry has excluded wage earners employed in handicrafts, small workshops as well as in certain industries such as printing, laundries and garages.

109. It is not possible in the absence of a complete census of population to give precise figures of the occupational distribution of the population in any year subsequent to 1931. Certain estimates are, however, available from the estimates of national income for the years 1939 and 1942.

NUMBER OF WAGE EARNERS IN EACH BRANCH OF INDUSTRY, 1939 AND 1942.

1939 1940
l. Agriculture (hired labour) 35,000 20,000
2. Industry:
Manufacture 87,200 52,000
Mining 8,000 8,200
Construction 25,000 61,500
Transport and communications 18,000 20,000
3. Commerce and finance 21,000 22,000
4. Government, administrative departments and municipal services 21,000 81,500
5. Hotels, restaurants and personal
services 27,000 31,550
6. War Departments civilian employees 1,700 24,600
7. Palestinian soldiers in Armed Forces - 21,200
8. Other services and minor groups 15,000 17,700 Total wage earners 208,900 305,250

The discrepancy between the 52,000 wage earners shown in the above table and the 49,977 in the previous table is to be explained by the omission, in the census of industry, of certain workshops and industries as has already been mentioned.

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