About one million people have applied for unemployment benefits since the outbreak of the crisis • Since the closure, about half a million have returned to work • In front of me: "Switch to a model of wage subsidy for employers"

• Unemployed in line for the Tel Aviv Employment Bureau

Since the beginning of the Corona crisis, about 973,815 applications for unemployment benefits have been submitted to the National Insurance Institute. 93% of them were approved, of which about 887,751 are eligible. From the beginning of the crisis, about 987,741 citizens were entitled to unemployment benefits (887,000 of them new, about 99.9 thousand of them unemployed before the corona). The good news: since the opening of the closure (April 19), more than 483,000 have returned to the labor market, constituting almost 50% of those entitled to pay. 

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About 504,778,000 have not yet returned to the labor market, which constitutes about 51% of those entitled to pay and are currently entitled to unemployment benefits. Since April 19, about 173,551 new applications for unemployment benefits have been received by the National Insurance Institute. Over 414,000 are entitled to unemployment benefits, have not been in the labor force for more than 18 weeks.

Photo: GPO

Meir Spiegler, CEO of the National Insurance Institute: "Recently we hear voices claiming that the unemployed are taking advantage of unemployment benefits and do not want to work. This is an illusion that is detached from the factual reality. The data presented here and the people we treat every day indicate otherwise. The number of unemployed recipients is significantly lower than the wage they earned.Each number presented here represents a person, with family, needs, desires and a desire for a sense of accomplishment in the world of work and personal life.At the beginning of the crisis, Social Security offered several proposals to encourage employment "This is the need of the hour and I sincerely hope that the solutions will be promoted even more in the coming weeks." 

MK Itzik Shmuli, Minister of Labor and Welfare: "The Corona crisis has hit the weakest strata hard, who were thrown into unemployment through no fault of their own. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis whose situation even before the crisis was dire "We must give the economy an electric shock that will bring it out of stagnation by moving to a new model of wage subsidy for employers, which will encourage them to keep and return many workers to work. Israel must not be left behind because of mental fixation that could eventually lead to chronic unemployment."