Central Bureau of Statistics: Unemployment rate rose slightly in May to 3.5%

Data published on Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics reveal that the basic unemployment rate rose slightly in May to 3.5%, after it was 3.1% in April, 3.3% in March, 3.7% in February, 4.1% in January and 4.3% in December. Before seasonally adjusted data that neutralizes irregular jumps and external events, the unemployment rate remains at 3.6%, and in any case, it is a relatively low unemployment rate both in Israel's past and in the world today.
The employment rate rose slightly to 61.8%, and this is a relatively high rate. It is estimated that in view of the economic situation and fear of its worsening, Israelis who have not worked recently are compromising and willing to work in jobs they refused to work until now.
The data also shows that the number of employed people who were temporarily absent from work for economic reasons together with the unemployed increased in May to 3.8%, and when you add those who stopped working due to layoffs or closing the workplace since the start of the Corona crisis in March 2020, it is an increase to 4.1%. The rate that includes all the previous categories together with the "desperate" from looking for a job rose to 4.4%.
The "desperate" are those aged 15 and over who were interested in working but have been looking for work for 12 months and have not found a job that suits them in their profession, in their area of residence, in terms of the salary and working hours offered to them, their interest in work, or a lack of appropriate experience or training, language difficulties or advanced age or Too colorful for the proposed job.
In total, there were 7,026,600 people aged 15 and over in Israel who could work, of which 4,501,500 women and men were in the labor force, which is 64.1%. 2,525,200 Israelis of these ages did not look for work and therefore did not participate in the labor force, and they constituted 35.9% of the Israelis who could work according to the international definitions.