Israel’s present unemployment rate of 6.3 percent may double by the middle of the year, according to an internal report submitted last week by the Manpower Planning Authority of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to Minister Moshe Katsav.
The Jerusalem Post has suggested that the unemployment figure may then be 170,000 jobless — higher than the 125,000 foreseen in the report if figures of job-seekers compiled by the Central Bureau of Statistics quarterly labor force survey are taken into consideration.
In addition, another 35,000 youths and demobilized soldiers are expected to join the labor market in 1985, driving the unemployment figure even higher.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
