While unemployment has been on the rise in most of the world in recent years, Israel saw it drop to 4.9 percent in April, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday. This represents lowest unemployment rate in 33 years.
April 2015 also saw similar numbers, but this year’s unemployment rates are even more significant as tens of thousands of Israelis joined the workforce over the past year.
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In 1983, the unemployment rate stood at 4.5%, but the population was half the size it is today.
The rate of unemployment dropped 8% compared to March, when it was 5.3%. The rate of unemployed men stood at 4.7%, while female unemployment stood at 5.1% (compared to 5.3% in March for both).
The number of people participating in the workforce in April 2016 reached some 3.925 million, of whom 3.732 million were employees (0.6% increase compared to March) and the remainder employers. Among all of the workers, 1.958 million were men and 1.774 million were women. The statistics show that only 193, 000 people were unemployed.
April also saw 64.4% of the population participate in the workforce of which 69.1% consisted of men of over 15 years of age. This marked a minor drop compared to March which stood at 69.2%. The rate of women over 15 years old participating in the workforce rose to 59.9% (compared to 59.7% in March).
Among the ages of 25-64, in which most people work, the rate of people who were part of the workforce stood at 80.5% (compared to 79.8% in March) – 84.8% among men, and 76.3% (compared to 75%) among women. The rate of the unemployed in this age bracket was 4.4% – among men it dropped to 4.2%, the lowest it’s been in years (compared to 4.4% before), and among women it rose to 4.7% (compared to 4.6% in March).
And even more good news: The number of people employed in a full-time job (35 weekly hours or more) rose by 1.6% percent compared to March (an additional 46, 000 employees), and the number of part-time workers dropped to just 2.6% (a drop of some 22, 000 people). The rate of part-time workers in the workforce is 78.4% – 88% among men (compared to 87.1%) and 67.8% among women (compared to 67.2%).
The rate of employment (compared to the overall population) in the 25-64 age bracket was 76.9% (compared to 76.3%).
There has also been a 13.6% increase in the average number of job vacancies between the months of February – April in 3.74% of all available jobs. This constituted 94, 200 open positions during that time period compared to 93, 000 in before.
The highest demand during the months of February-April was in sales which offered a total of 8, 672 open positions. The second highest professions in demand were waiters and bartenders, with 6, 179 open positions.
