CBS: July unemployment at 6.5%

The Central Bureau of Statistics said Thursday that Israel\’s jobless rate noted a drop in July from 7.1% to 6.5%.

According to the data, employment was at 59.8% compared with 59% in June.

The CBS said that there were seasonal factors that affected unemployment, adding that summer months often see lower job demands.

In mid August, the National Employment Service reported that some 16,000 Israeli were laid off in July – a record high unnoted since 2009.

Last week, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said that he had "no knowledge of new unemployment data. Over the past three years, we have created 330,000 new jobs."