With 150,000 Israelis out of work, the country’s unemployment rate now stands at 9.5 percent, compared with 6 percent a year ago, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
The number of unemployed has increased by 10,000 since the first quarter of the year, while the jobless rate rose a full point in three months, up from 8.5 percent in the second quarter.
This means that one of every 10 Israelis over age 15 is unemployed. For men, it is one out of 12 and for women, one out of nine.
Development towns have been hit the hardest. In Netivot, Or Akiva and Kfar Yona, the jobless rate has stabilized at 20 percent.
The outlook seems bleak countrywide. The number of work orders dropped from 19,200 in June to 18,500 in July.
But Moshe Ze’ev Feldman, the deputy minister in charge of the ministry of labor and welfare, is not worried.
He said the rise of unemployment was due to seasonal factors and the rate would fall once they passed.
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