The Israel Employment Service has published the most shocking figures in three years about unemployment rates and job cuts. A report in newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that 16,084 people lost their jobs in July, a three year record high; more women than men were made redundant, with 8,587 jobs lost against 7,497.

According to the Israel Employment Service, this figure is the highest since 2009. More jobs were lost in Tel Aviv, with 1,072, than in the next highest city, Jerusalem, for which the figure was 803.

Director General of the IES, Boaz Hirsch, said: “July saw a 0.5 per cent increase in the number of people unemployed when compared with the previous month, bringing the total number of job seekers to 187,200.”

Waiting to enter the government unemployment office in Haifa

The newspaper also reported that Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour is preparing itself for an economic slowdown leading to a 9 per cent increase in the unemployment rate. The ministry is expecting the number of unemployed in the country to swell to 320,000. “The trend,” said a ministry spokesman, “is heading in a negative direction and is fixed.”

Hirsch admitted that the situation is not simple. “The data shows that many of the newly unemployed are 25-34-year-olds from the high-tech sector,” he said. “The employment service is monitoring the situation with a great deal of concern.”

Source: Middle East Monitor

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