Survey: 400,000 ceased work in Israel due to covid

Ultra orthodox Israeli women work at computer terminals in the offices of Matrix Global, a unit of Matrix IT Ltd., in Modi’in Illit, Israel, on Sunday, April 29, 2012 [Ariel Jerozolimski/Bloomberg via Getty Image]

Some 400,000 people in Israel do not currently have work as a result of coronavirus closures, a survey conducted by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) revealed yesterday.

The CBS reported that in the first half of May 2021, 398,600 people were out of work “due to dismissal or closure of the workplace from March 2020 + employed persons temporarily absent from work all week due to reasons related to the Coronavirus pandemic.” They make up 9.6 per cent of the country’s labour force, the site said.

Some 267,500 were “temporarily absent from work all week due to reasons related to the Coronavirus pandemic”, it added.

In total, five per cent of Israel’s labour force is unemployed, amounting to 198,600 people. A drop from April when the number stood at 218,700, of 5.3 per cent.

Arab48 reported National Insurance Institute Director-General Meir Spiegler saying that tens of thousands of employees face difficulties in returning to work due to the closures in the tourism and aviation industries.

READ: Nearly 2m Israelis live below official poverty line

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