Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Israel reports further drop in unemployment

(Haaretz).In June 2009, unemployment dropped 2 percent from the previous month's rate according to data from Employment Services. The drop in June put the total number of unemployed at 225,600. The total number of people fired in June was 16,500.

In the same month the number of newly employed persons totaled 12,500 - a drop of 1.8 percent in comparison to June of last year, when the number of employed totaled 12,700.

Nonetheless, 23,400 job seekers received services from the unemployment office, which is a 6 percent drop from the previous month.

In June, the number of jobseekers without an academic degree dropped by 1.7 percent compared to the previous month. The number of jobseekers with an academic degree dropped by 2.7 percent. The number of Jobseekers with an academic degree who applied for an unemployment stipend dropped by 2.4 percent

"It is too soon to asses the change in unemployment trends," said Yossi Farhi, the director general of the Employment Service. "It is appropriate to note that the numbers of newly employed persons are changing. The numbers began to drop in March which correlates with data showing a reduction in the number of people laid off around the same time.