Unemployment in Israel at 22.7% with 938,000 people jobless
Unemployment during lockdown in October was nearly double what it was in September.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFIsrael Police prepare for new coronavirus lockdown regulations, Sept. 25, 2020(photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
Some 22.7% of Israelis, 938,000 people, were unemployed at the height of the second coronavirus lockdown, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Calcalist reported. The statistics refer to the first half of October and are based on a poll of the workforce.In the month before the second lockdown, unemployment was at 11.5%, according to the bureau.The definition of unemployment used in this report is the bureau's broad definition of unemployment that includes those who are unemployed, those on unpaid leave (measured by the metric of if they have worked at in the week of the poll) and those who lost their job during the pandemic and are not currently seeking work.Without accounting for those who are not currently looking for work, unemployment stands at 20.7%.The Finance Ministry method of measuring does not include those who have lost their jobs but are not looking for another job, according to Calcalist. This measurement is significant because unemployment benefits are based on the Finance Ministry measure of how many people are unemployed. When unemployment drops below a certain threshold, benefits will also drop.The numbers appear to be lower than unemployment numbers from the first lockdown, during which over one million Israelis were unemployed, but the numbers are not comparable because the bureau has changed its definition and data reporting system since
