The unemployment rate in Israel rose to 3.7% in the second half of March, from 3.2% in the first half of the month, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports. There were 160,000 jobseekers in the second half of March, which was similar to the number of job vacancies, so that the Israeli economy is close to full employment.
At the same time, the unemployment rate under the broad definition rose to 5.3% in the second half of March from 4.7% in the first half of the month.
Participation in the workforce of the working age population in Israel fell to 61.3% in the second half of March from 61.8% in the first half of the month.
The tightening of Israel's job market due to low unemployment and the record number of job vacancies is likely to bring about upward pressure on salaries, which would again further fuel inflation.
The Bank of Israel Research Department forecasts 3.5% unemployment at the end of 2022 with a continuing low level of unemployment in 2023.
The Israeli economy has confounded the prediction by the OECD that Israel would be the last member country to recover from high unemployment during the Covid pandemic.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 25, 2022.
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