The number of jobless who lined up in August at employment bureaus skyrocketed to an all-time high of 243,517 people—a 3.5 percent increase on the previous month and a near 7 percent rise since June. The figure is also 9 percent higher than August 2003.
The Employment Service yesterday published figures net of seasonal factors, such as the summer vacation…
The largest groups of jobseekers are in Arab communities—more than 21 percent—and in development towns, about 16 percent. The numbers of these two communities among jobseekers are substantially higher than their representation in the general population.
[Bedouin communities continue to register record numbers, with unemployment in the unrecognized Negev village of Abu Rabia reaching 33%. Even recognized Bedouin townships like Rahat register a rate of 25% unemployment on average.]* All the municipalities in the south of the country had unemployment rates of higher than 10 percent, with Yeruham leading the Jewish communities with a 14.3 percent rate. Ofakim and Dimona followed closely on Yeruham's heels, with unemployment rates of 14.2 percent and 14.1 percent respectively. [ Beersheba , Ashkelon , Netivot, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi, and Sederot had unemployment rates of 10.3-13.1%.]
The lowest unemployment rates in August were posted by the luxurious suburbs of Kfar Shmaryahu and Savion and by settlements in the territories: Beit El, for example, had an unemployment rate of just 1.7 percent. [Rates in Karnei Shomron and Ariel came in at 2.3% and 4.3% respectively.]
The sections in brackets appeared in Haaretz 's Hebrew version of the article, but not its English version—ed.
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