Some 67,000 employees were absent from their jobs due to the Israel-Hamas war in June, due to the Israel-Hamas war, in a 10% decrease compared to May, the Finance Ministry reported Sunday.
This is a 90% decrease in the amount of absent employees as compared to October 2023. The employment rate since June has remained lower in June than it was before the outbreak of war.
Most of those absent due to the war were men (77%) because of they make up a larger share of those drafted to IDF reserves, said the ministry.
The ministry also reported that since the beginning of 2023, the growth of the part of Israeli employment that is in the hi-tech sector has stopped after growing continuously between 2018 and 2022.
Growth plateaued around 10% in hi-tech sector
This growth plateaued around 10%. For the proportion of Israeli jobs in the hi-tech sector to match previous trend lines, an additional 33,000 hi-tech jobs would need to be added in the sector as of June 2024.
Israeli flags flutter at Ofer Park in Petah Tikva, which houses hi-tech companies. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
Unsurprisingly, areas near the southern and northern border have suffered more significant drops in employment than the center of the country.
Areas up to 9 km. from the border with Lebanon and 7 km. from the border with Gaza saw a six and 12 percentage point drop in employment rate respectively, said the ministry.
When looking at employment without taking those missing from work due to the war into account, for women, there was nearly a complete recovery in employment compared to January through September 2023.
For women in the haredi and Arab sector this recovery was even more pronounced. Both of these populations saw an increase in their employment rate when compared to January-September 2023 – haredi women’s employment stood at 63% and Arab women’s employment stood at 37%.
AdvertisementNon-haredi Jewish women’s employment saw a decrease of two percentage points when compared to before the war, and non-haredi Jewish men and Arab men also saw a similar decrease.
Employment for haredi men saw a full recovery to pre-war levels in June.
