CBS: Unemployment remains at 7.3%

Unemployment remains at a 13-month low after gradually declining since last May, when unemployment reached a high of 7.9%
 
The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported last Thursday that February’s unemployment rate was a preliminary 7.3% of the civilian labor force, the same as in January.
 
The CBS noted that unemployment remains at a 13-month low after gradually declining since last May, when unemployment reached a high of 7.9%.
 
Following the publication of the unemployment figures Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said that: “The figures are encouraging and show again that the economic plan adopted by the government a year ago is strengthening and helping the economy to emerge out of the global economic crisis in a better way than other developed countries, which are suffering from higher unemployment rates”.
 
Steinitz added that “Recently the government approved a plan to reduce the number of illegal foreign workers, which is expected to increase the availability of low-paid jobs and lower the unemployment rate”.