Government

The Employment Service expects Israel to end 2020 with about half a million unemployed. The labor market will take many years to recover from the corona crisis and the phenomenon of prolonged unemployment is expected to expand. This was stated in a report published on Sunday by the Employment Service. The authors of the report warn of a number of dangers in the current government policy that includes only assisting the unemployed without encouraging their return to the labor market and states that the policy encourages the taking of unemployment benefits. The Employment Service estimates...

The rate of eligibility for a matriculation certificate among 12th grade graduates last year stands at 69.7% across the country, a slight decrease compared to the previous year which ended with 69.9%. Data published on Monday by the Ministry of Education show that despite the stability among those eligible for matriculation in the Jewish sector, eligibility among Bedouin students fell below 50%, and among Arab students in general there was a percentage decrease among those eligible

A general strike in the midst of the corona crisis is approaching. On Sunday, talks between the heads of the Histadrut and the department in charge of salaries at the Ministry of Finance came to a dead end, regarding wage cuts planned by the Ministry of Finance for the public sector. The contacts have reached a dead end and the current situation is that Finance Minister Israel Katz intends to bring the austerity plan to the government's approval on September 13 - and on the same day the Histadrut plans to shut down the economy altogether. Following the explosion of talks, Histadrut chairman...

The Corona Cabinet decided on Monday towards midnight that studies in the 23 local authorities defined as “red” due to high morbidity figures will not open today. The decision was made unanimously in the cabinet, and is valid until Thursday. Then the ministers will convene again and discuss whether to impose a closure on some of those local authorities. Wherever a closure is imposed there will be no studies. The Ministry of Health has published a list of the 23 authorities, which according to the "traffic light" program of the projector Prof. Roni Gamzo will be subject to many...

At noon, the Israeli delegation will return from the historic visit to the United Arab Emirates. This morning, discussions will continue on the future cooperation in the fields of economics and society of the two countries. The American representatives, including President Trump's adviser Jared Kushner, will also return to Israel on their way to the United States. Prime Minister Netanyahu has already instructed the head of the delegation, Ben Shabbat, to invite representatives of the United Arab Emirates to visit Israel to continue contacts. A ceremony to implement the agreement will be...

The night curfew planned tonight in about 40 localities defined as "red" due to the high level of morbidity in them will take effect on Tuesday at 19:00, due to a delay in formulating the list of authorities. Yesterday, the Committee of Ministers for Restricted Areas approved a night curfew and transferred the education system to distance learning in red localities, and the ministers were supposed to decide today which localities would be included in the list. Formulation of the list of localities designated for the curfew includes a hearing: The professional teams subordinate to the...

After more than eight hours of a tense cabinet meeting on Sunday, the ministers approved a closure on Fridy, New Year's Eve, at 2 p.m that will last at least three weeks. This is in order to stop the surge in coronary heart disease in Israel. Towards the end of the original closure period, a situation assessment will be conducted in which it will be decided whether to extend the closure. The closure was approved by a majority of votes in the yeshiva, and only Ministers Zeev Elkin and Assaf Zamir voted against. Ministers Itzik Shmuli and Ofir Akunis abstained, the rest supported. Prime...

The historic signing ceremony for the normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain ended on the southern lawn of the White House in Washington. The ceremony will be attended by hundreds of guests, and in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Ben-Zayed, and his Bahrain counterpart Abdel-Latif al-Ziani. At the head of the speeches was President Trump. He referred to past relations between Israel and Arab countries in the Middle East, and welcomed the agreement. "In the history of Israel,...

Severe increase in unemployment and the number of unemployed in the background of the second closure and intentions to extend it until the end of October: From the last report of the Employment Service yesterday until this morning at 7:00, 14,723 new jobseekers were registered. A total of 909,460 jobseekers are currently registered with the employment service, of which 572,908 are on unpaid leave. Since September 17, 2020, the day before New Year's Eve and the entry of restrictions, 178,020 jobseekers have been registered with the Employment Service - 162,858 of them due to leaving the...

The tax authority transfers hundreds of millions of shekels in tax refunds to businesses in a concentrated manner. The Authority announced today (Thursday) that out of a desire to help businesses in Israel, in light of the cash flow difficulties they encountered as a result of the economic consequences of the Corona virus and the tightening of restrictions, tax refunds amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels were released this week. Those eligible will be able to see the money in their bank accounts in the coming days. In this context, income balances in the total amount of NIS 153...