Today (Thursday), the National Insurance Institute reported that no fewer than 121,841 unemployment money claims have been filed since the beginning of the war as of yesterday.
According to Channel 14 News, the National Insurance Institute reported that 121,841 were filed at the NII since the beginning of the war. Most of these were for the over 90,000 workers who had been furloughed, and the remainder were for those who were fired or for other reasons. The large number of furloughed workers is due to whole sectors of the economy being effectively shut down, such as construction, tourism, culture, entertainment, and more.
The Labor Ministry also reported a 40% decline in the number of wanted ads, from 46,000 a month to just 27,000. This decline has not hit all areas of the country equally - the war-torn south experienced a 52% decline in wanted ads, compared to "only" 31% for the Tel Aviv area.
Labor Ministry Director-General Yisrael Ozan said that there was a labor shortage of about 760,000 people, and that his ministry was working hard to connect relevant workers with employers to start closing the gap.