That figure includes people on temporary leave from their place of work due to the pandemic. When those people are excluded, just 5% of the population is now seeking work, CBS said.
In March, the unemployment rate dropped below 10% for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. According to the rules established in the coronavirus economic safety net established last year, that means unemployment benefits have now been reduced by 10%.
Unemployment reached as high as 22% last April, during the pandemonium of the first coronavirus closure, and averaged 16% for the whole of 2020. At the end of 2019, before the pandemic, Israel's unemployment rate was a record-low 3.4%.
The government's economic safety net for people who lost their jobs is scheduled to end at the end of June. The Finance Ministry has said that it will announce in a few weeks its plans for continued unemployment benefits after that date.