Israel’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has released a new report on labor force figures.
The report focuses on “the total number of people in the Israeli labor force and the number of work permits issued in the country in 2015, a key indicator of the country’s economic health.”
The ministry says the figures for the first six months of this year were not available, but it notes that “the first six-month period is the peak period in the labor force survey.”
The ministry also reports that, in the first half of this season, “there was an increase in the number working.”
The Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MAGIS) says in its report, “we need to continue our efforts to provide more accurate data and a more comprehensive picture of the labour force and to develop tools to facilitate information sharing between our ministry and other organizations.”
The report says that the number in the “total number of workers in Israel,” “the number of working permits issued for the country,” “a key indicator for the economic health” and “the labor force” are “not always comparable.”
The new report is titled “Israel’s labor force in 2015,” and it describes the new data released last week by MAGIS as “a step forward.”
It adds that in the past six months, the ministry has received 1.5 million more applications for work permits than in the previous six months.
In addition, MAGIS reports that in “2015, the number and number of applications received increased by about one-third.”
The country’s labor and social affairs minister, Gilad Erdan, says that “these figures are very encouraging” and that “we are now at the beginning of the year, which is a good time to collect the data we need to keep the country moving forward.”
The MAGIS report also notes that the ministry “takes every measure to ensure that the information it publishes is accurate.”
It says that MAGIS conducts regular surveys of the labor and health system, “conducts regular checks of the employment of the civilian population,” and “regularly reviews data that is submitted to us.”
In response to the new report, the Ministry of Economy and Industry said that it “took all measures necessary to improve the accuracy and completeness of data” and urged “the public to keep an open mind” and look into “the data.”
The Magis report also includes the following statistics, according to The Jerusalem Report: 1.2 million Palestinians have sought unemployment benefits, compared to 1.1 million in the same period last year.
Of these, 682,000 were given the option of applying for unemployment benefits.
Of the 682 for whom unemployment benefits were granted, about one in 10 were seeking them, while about one third were not seeking unemployment benefits at all.
MAGIS says that in 2015 there were 8,939 Palestinian deaths from natural causes, compared with 8,715 in the corresponding period last January.
Of the 7,988 Palestinian children under age 5, MAGS reports, 1,023 were born in 2015.
Of those under age five, there were 4,891 cases of pneumonia and 4,904 cases of other respiratory illnesses.
MAGS says that about 10% of Palestinian children had been exposed to the coronavirus before they were born.
In addition, 1.7 million Palestinians lived in villages without access to health facilities, while 1.6 million lived in cities.
MAGI says that some 10,000 of these Palestinian children died of natural causes.
