OECD: Israel employment down to 66.7%
Jewish state's employment level about 2% higher than average level in international economic organization's member states
A gender-based analysis shows that the employment level among women in Israel in the second quarter of the year was 62.9% compared to 62.7% in the previous quarter. Among men, the employment level in the second quarter went down to 70.5% from 71.1% in the first quarter.
In the 24-54 working age group, the employment level in the second quarter went down by 0.2% to 76.7%, while among older workers it went up by 0.7% to 42%.
According to the report, the employment level in all OECD countries – in other words, the percentage of people in the working age who work in any type of job – was 65.1% in the second quarter of 2013, 1% higher compared to the first quarter but 1.4% lower than the second quarter of 2008 (the last quarter before the eruption of the global financial crisis).
Compared to OECD countries, the employment level in the eurozone in the second quarter of 2013 was 63.7%, a 0.1% drop from the previous quarter. Yet this figure disguises different employment patterns in the eurozone's three leading economies – in Italy, the employment level fell 0.5% to 55.5%; in Germany it went up 0.2% to 73.3%, and in France it remained stable at 64%.
Of the seven other leading countries, in Japan the employment level climbed 0.3% to 71.5%; in Britain and Canada it rose 0.1% to 70.5% and 72.6%, respectively; and in the United States the employment level remained stable at 67.3%.
Of other OECD countries, compared to the first quarter of 2013, Greece saw the biggest drop in its employment level in the second quarter – 0.5%, Slovenia recorded a 0.4% decline, and Holland and Turkey registered a 0.3% drop.
In Hungary and Iceland, on the other hand, the employment level went up 0.8%, and in the Czech Republic it rose 0.5%. Portugal recorded a 0.3% increase after registering a decline for nine quarters in a row.
The employment level of OECD countries for the second quarter went up in all age groups. However, the employment rate among young people remained 0.2% lower than the same period last year, while older workers' employment rate went up 0.8%.
Among the main working age group (24-54), the employment level remained unchanged.
