Israel’s Unemployment Soars beyond 20 Percent

November 4, 2020

by: Gad Lior

Wednesday, 4 November 2020 | Israel’s unemployment figures have soared since the country [entered] its second nationwide lockdown, with joblessness rate climbing above 20%.

According to data published by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics on Monday, 1,079,500 registered as unemployed during the first half of October, of whom 832,600 are believed to have been directly affected by the coronavirus crisis and were either fired or furloughed.

The bureau reported the unemployment for the first half of October—before the government began easing the lockdown restrictions—ranged somewhere between 20.7% and 22.7%.

This is compared to 672,400 unemployed (17.1%) registered in the second half of September, when the second lockdown was first implemented—an increase of over 160,000 jobless. If those who have been unemployed since the first lockdown in March are added to this list, the number for the second half of September rises to 767,400 (19.1%).

According to the bureau, the non-pandemic-related unemployment rate in Israel stood at 5.1% in the first half of October with 205,200 jobless, compared to 165,000 unemployed in the second half of September, which constitutes an unemployment rate of 4.2%.

Former director general of the Finance Ministry and current economic advisor to the National Security Council in the fight against the pandemic, Yarom Ariav, told Ynet on Monday that Israel is on the verge of an economic catastrophe, adding the government must act as soon as possible to reduce the growing unemployment numbers.

In the meantime, despite the danger the economic crisis presents to Israel’s credit rating, the international credit rating company Moody’s decided not to lower the country’s rating and left it at A1, which is considered to be relatively high.

Action
With the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic—and particularly the compound effect of the first and second lockdowns—continuing to ravage the Israeli society, Bridges for Peace continues to receive additional calls for help. They come from single mothers who lost their only source of income, fathers who can no longer feed their families, new immigrants we helped when they first arrived in Israel, and the list goes on.  We want to answer every one of these calls, but we can only do so with the help of Christians around the world who love God and the people He calls the "apple of His eye" (Zech. 2:8). Will you show your support for Israel during this critical time in a practical way?

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Posted on November 4, 2020

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on November 2, 2020. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our publication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Jenna Solomon/bridgesforpeace.com