The ratio between the number of jobseekers and the number of job vacancies fell in February to 1.1, the lowest figure since 2009. This is according to the employment market pulse report of the employment service. This means that 1.1 employees applied for each position, and this ostensibly indicates the possibility of almost every employee finding a job. For comparison, at the beginning of 2021, about 12 job seekers competed for each vacancy. This is the best ratio since 2009, and much better than the one recorded in Israel on the eve of the crisis (1.7).
The high number of job vacancies has characterized the economy over the past year, and it represents a global phenomenon in the post-corona world as the tastes of the employed change. However, there is not necessarily a match between job seekers and the requirements of job vacancies, many of which are in the high-tech field and in professions that require higher education and advanced skills. On the side of job seekers however there is a large representation of such unskilled.
In terms of the number of job seekers, according to data from the Employment Service, we returned to pre-crisis data. The number of job seekers registered in February is the same as that registered before the crisis – 164,000 workers, a slight decrease compared to February.
However, data from recent months show a “moderation in the decline in the number of job seekers, which stems from the realization of the decline in the registration that resulted from the cessation of sweeping entitlement to unemployment benefits for those aged 45 and over last October,” the employment service said in a statement.
According to CBS data, published yesterday (Monday), the unemployment rate in the economy actually rose to 4% in the second half of February, compared with an unemployment rate of 3.8% in the first half of that month.
The broad unemployment rate (which also includes workers in the IDF) rose to 5.8% in the second half of February compared to 5.5% in the first half of the month. The first of the month, the increase corresponds with the increase in the infection rate recently recorded in Israel.