CBS: Unemployment rate up 0.1% in Q2

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported last week that the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose by 0.1% in the second quarter of 2006 to a seasonally adjusted 8.9%, compared with 8.8% in the first quarter
 
According to figures released by the CBS, the number of unemployed rose to 251,600, 3.2% more than in the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter 115,700 of the unemployed were women and 135,900 were men. The unemployment rate for men was unchanged in the second quarter, compared with the preceding quarter, at 8.3%, seasonally adjusted, but the unemployment rate for women rose to 9.6% from 9.2%.
 
In general terms, the unemployment rate was down 0.3% compared with the 9.2% rate in the first quarter of 2005, and 2% less than the 10.9% peak in the first quarter of 2004. The number of unemployed has fallen 15.6%, or 40,300 persons, from the 2004 peak of 291,900.