ByZEV STUB
Updated:

The average monthly salary in Israel fell nearly 7% in April to NIS 11,661 compared to a month earlier, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Monday.

The decline reflects the economy’s recovery and the return of more workers to the labor market. The number of salaried employees rose 1.3% during the month to 3.508 million, and many of those are for low-skilled positions. The current number of jobs in the economy is 33.6% higher than it was a year earlier, during the chaos of the first coronavirus lockdown, but still also about 7% lower than the month before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, unemployment rates continue to drop. The broad employment rate, which includes people on unpaid leave, fell from 9.9% to 9.5% during the first half of June, CBS said.

However, when people on unpaid leave are excluded, the unemployment rate actually rose slightly, from 5.4% to 5.5%, or by about 3,000 people.

Separately, Israel Employment Services said Monday that only 36.6% of Arab society was employed as of April, some 12% less than before the coronavirus pandemic started.

In contrast, current employment rates are 8.4% lower among haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews and 7.2% among non-haredim compared to right before the crisis, IES said.

Arab women have returned to work at a faster pace than their male counterparts, a trend mirrored in the Jewish population as well. The employment rate of Arab women at the end of April 2021 was 7.4% lower than before the crisis, while for men, it was almost twice as much lower – about 14%. This is largely because more men work in physical jobs like construction, which was more affected by closures, the report said. Exceptions to this were Bedouin women and women from east Jerusalem, who tend to have very low digital skills and find it difficult to return to work.

The report noted that many job seekers from Arab society may find it difficult to return to work if they live in poor socioeconomic clusters, and have low levels of digital skills and education. Many may find themselves in long-term unemployment and will need social benefits, it said.

“The data from the report show how much the state must be involved in vocational rehabilitation processes, in light of dealing with the corona crisis,” said Economy Minister Orna Barbivay. “The absorption of the labor arm into the Economy Ministry will be a significant force multiplier in the integration between the ministries to create quality employment and to encourage the overall growth of the economy, increase productivity and strengthen the Israeli economy.”

“The report’s data reinforces what we have been warning about throughout the past year: that the corona crisis has significantly hit populations that have faced employment barriers before, such as the ultra-Orthodox, Arabs, low-wage earners and those with low digital skills,” said IES CEO Rami Graur. “The changes that began before the crisis only accelerated during it, and as a country, we have a duty to take action to use all of our tools to reduce the gaps, strengthening human capital and encouraging employment.”