The cost-of-living index rose by 21.1 percent in October, not 21.2 percent as first reported when the Central Bureau of Statistics released its monthly report yesterday. But the corrected figure gave little solace to Israelis reeling under the impact of the highest monthly rise in inflation in the nation’s history.
It wiped out, in a single blow, the 20.5 percent cost-of-living increment added to October salaries two weeks ago. Not only wage-earners but industrial, economic and business circles were overcome by gloom, hardly relieved by dire forecasts of a deepening depression and rising unemployment.
The building index for the past three months, released yesterday, showed a sharp increase in costs. Contractors immediately raised the price of an apartment by some 17 percent, in line with the latest index. They acknowledged at the same time that the higher prices will lead to a further decline in demand and forecast a serious rise of unemployment in the building trades because building starts have to be curtailed immediately.
LABOR UNREST PREDICTED
Histadrut is pressing even harder for the payment to all salaried workers and wage-earners of an interim cost-of-living increment equal to the latest COL rise. The trade union federation demands that this payment be made within the next few weeks. The next regular COL index payment is not due until January, 1984.
Yeruham Meshel, director general of Histadrut, warned that if the government, the manufacturers and other employers failed to make the interim payment, the country would be hit by labor unrest which Histadrut could not and would not oppose.
Meanwhile, social workers in Jerusalem have reported a 50 percent increase in the number of families applying to the municipal social welfare offices for aid to help them get through the month. They said that for the first time, many of the new applicants seeking aid to feed and school their children were from the lower middle class, an economic group which heretofore had refrained from asking for assistance.
The social workers also reported an increase in violent behavior on the part of applicants who refuse to accept explanations that no funds are available in the municipal treasury because the definition of needy is made by government ministries.
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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.
