Ok so the actively seeking employment figures have dropped, thats good no? But what about those that have given up looking, should we not use real statistics instead of Bituach Leumi and Lishkat Hatasuka's? The picture is far graver when one looks at the real stats, which is people of working age, less serving soldiers, students, people learning in Yeshiva's the disabled and new mothers. It does not take a genius to work out that the picture is worse than the government makes it out to be. Job creation is key to a successful economy, investment in the SMME sector is vital if we wont to really be a society on par with lets say Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Austria --the list goes on and on. Free Health, free primary, middle and high school education, free tertiary education, less taxes, less oligarchs and we could be the envy of the world, so Mr. Olmert lets see you actually do some good.

Consider the amount of unnecessary people that the Israeli government employs both out of corruption and a desire to artificially lower the unemployment rate. This economy is a mess, we need a strong centrist or conservative as finance minister.

Time after time, one hears stories about some under-qualified-but-connected 'native' getting a job while qualified Anglos were passed over. Unfortunately potential olim don't hear the story until it is too late.