Broad unemployment rate falls

Employment Service office in Holon   credit: Eyal Izhar
Employment Service office in Holon credit: Eyal Izhar

About 100,000 people returned to work from IDF reserve duty or unpaid leave in December 2023.

The broad measure of unemployment, which includes those on unpaid leave, fell in December to 6.1%, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced today. The broad unemployment rate in November last year was 8.5%.

In the narrow measure of unemployment, counting only those without jobs, the rate rose slightly, from 2.8% in November to 3.1% in December.

The Central Bureau of Statistics figures show that the number of people on reserve duty in the IDF and the number on unpaid leave fell in December by some 100,000 to 270,000. The decline was mainly in the number of people on unpaid leave. Their proportion of the number of unemployed in the broad measure of unemployment fell from 48% in November to 31.5% in December. The proportion accounted for by reserve soldiers fell from 35.5% in November to 30.7% in December.

Reserve duty accounted for 55% of the men temporarily absent from work in December. Among women, the proportion was 9%. Unpaid leave was the reason for temporary absence from work for 34% of the women and 30% of the men.

The general picture from the Central Bureau of Statistics manpower survey for December is of a rapidly declining number of people on unpaid leave after a severe blow at the beginning of the war, while the number of people without work did not rise substantially. A similar picture emerges from figures for December released by the Employment Service last week. These showed a 10.2% fall in the number of people looking for work. The Employment Service expects this trend to continue.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 15, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.

Employment Service office in Holon   credit: Eyal Izhar
Employment Service office in Holon credit: Eyal Izhar
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