Unemployment Rate Hits 40-Year Low

YERUSHALAYIM
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon. (Roy Alima/Flash90)

The unemployment rate in Israel in October hit its lowest point in over 40 years. The Central Bureau of Statistics reported Monday that the October unemployment rate was 3.4%, the lowest recorded since 1978. The figure was also two-tenths of a percentage point lower than in September, when the rate wsa 3.6%.

The total number of people looking for a job age 15 or older is around 141,000, the CBS said. Among male workers, the unemployment rate fell from 3.3% to 3.1% between September and October, while for women the rate fell from 3.9% to 3.7%. With that, the number of part-time workers fell by about 9,000. The percentage of those working full-time, at least 35 hours a week, remained stable at 78.4%.

Among workers age 25 through 64, the percentage of eligible Israelis participating in the workforce fell slightly, from 80.8% to 80.1%, but unemployment also fell in this group, from 3.2% to 2.9%. The number of men in this group not working fell from 3% to 2.7%; among women, 3.2% of workers age 25 through 64 were seeking working in October, down from 3.3% the month before, the numbers showed.

In response to the statistics, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said that “low unemployment is a sign of a strong economy, and no less important, a strong society. Every person wants to wake up in the morning and go to work in order to honorably support their family. I am very happy and proud of these statistics.”

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