factory 311.
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
Although the jobless rate reached an all-time low of 5.8 percent in April,
employment in the manufacturing sector has still not returned to the levels that
existed prior to the mass layoffs of 2008, according to data released Wednesday
by the Manufacturers Association of Israel.
The total number of employees
in the sector in April was still 2.3% lower than in the first quarter of 2008,
the association reported, which it said was responsible for a decline in
productivity.
Only an extra 325 people – or 0.1% – were employed in the
sector in March and April, after a 0.4% rise in January and February and a 0.5%
rise in the final quarter of last year, the data showed. Of more concern,
productivity dropped 0.2% in March and April, compared with an increase of 2.4%
in January and February.
Sector employment rose 3.9% since the end of
2009, thanks to a net growth of 13,360 new workers, but it still left the sector
short of the employment figures it boasted before the cuts, the association
said.