In the period of January through March 2006, the unemployment rate was 8.7%, as compared to the same period a year ago, January through March 2005, when the rate was 9.2%.
The rate was slower than expected however, falling only 0.1% from the rate during the fourth quarter in 2005, at of 8.8%, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Nonetheless, the unemployment rate is the lowest since the year 2000, when the current intifada beganArab violence resurged in Israel with the outbreak of the current intifada. From that year the jobless rate climbed to a peak of 10.9% in the first three months of 2004.
A total of 240,600 -- some 123,000 men and 117,500 women -- were jobless in the first three months of 2006. The number of unemployed men remained the same as the previous quarter, at 8.3%. Unemployment among women fell 0.2% from the last three months of 2005, from 9.3% to 9.1%
The rate was slower than expected however, falling only 0.1% from the rate during the fourth quarter in 2005, at of 8.8%, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Nonetheless, the unemployment rate is the lowest since the year 2000, when the current intifada beganArab violence resurged in Israel with the outbreak of the current intifada. From that year the jobless rate climbed to a peak of 10.9% in the first three months of 2004.
A total of 240,600 -- some 123,000 men and 117,500 women -- were jobless in the first three months of 2006. The number of unemployed men remained the same as the previous quarter, at 8.3%. Unemployment among women fell 0.2% from the last three months of 2005, from 9.3% to 9.1%