Israel's unemployment rate has reached an all-time low, standing at only 5.8% in April – a total of 186,000 unemployed people, despite the rise in the number of workers joining the labor market.
A similar unemployment rate of 5.9% was recorded on the eve of the financial crisis in 2008.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Thursday, "I promised to bring down the unemployment rate in Israel to less than 6% within four years, and we did it within as little as two years."
Analysts stress, however, that had many of Israel's Arabs and ultra-Orthodox residents tried to find a job, the unemployment rate would have been much higher.