Knesset approves employer reporting to collect real-time unemployment data

Employers will need to file a monthly online report about the number of employees they keep and their salaries, the Knesset decided when it approved an amendment to the National Insurance Agency (NIA) Law on Sunday. The amendment arrives on the heels of State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s October report warning that lack of precise data concerning the unemployed limits the government’s ability to handle the COVID-19 financial crisis. The amendment will be implemented in April for companies employing more than 180 workers and will be mandatory starting from October.  Roughly a million Israelis are currently out of work due to the COVID-19 lockdown policy, with reports about domestic violence and spreading poverty growing at alarming rates. However, the NIA does not receive real-time data about working Israelis and those who are out of work or their respective salaries.  Who measures Israeli unemployment? The NIA knows how many people asked it for unemployment benefits and so is able to report on that. The Unemployment Service knows how many people contacted it seeking work, and the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is looking at polls.This is why these three bodies might offer different figures. For example, last week, the Finance Ministry complained that the CBS reports that more accountants and lawyers were working in June then those sectors confirm.  The CBS used to ask employers to file full reports on all the people they employ, by name, twice a year. Monthly reports were not so detailed. If workers were placed on unpaid leave, given less shifts, or fired and rehired in the space of six months, the system would “see” them as being employed. In a press release, the State Comptroller’s Office pointed out that the new step will allow people who are working but earning low wages to get state support with greater ease, which would serve as an incentive for those not working to seek employment.