Unemployment rate in 2006 lowest in past decade

The last quarter of 2006 saw the largest decrease in the number of unemployed people in Israel, citing 7.7% of the civilian work force as unemployed, i.e. 219,000 people, being the lowest yet this decade. Looking at 2006 summaries, the amount of unemployed persons was down to 8.4% as opposed to 9.0% in 2005. The percentage of unemployed men decreased from 8.5% to 7.9%, while the percentage of unemployed women went from 9.5% to 9.0%. The main improvement was recorded between the ages of 55 and 69. In addition, the number of full time jobs went up by 3%. There were 2.574 million people employed in Israel in 2006, an increase of 80,000 and 3.2% from 2005.