The Prime Minister's Office welcomed the most recent unemployment statistics released at the end of last week. "This is an historic achievement," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Saturday night in a closed discussion with supporters. At the end of the week, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that the unemployment rate in Israel stands at only 5.8%, the lowest level since 1984. The agency also reported that in the past two and a half years, since the current government took power, 209,000 jobs have been found for unemployed citizens. "We have developed an anti-financial crisis policy that is different from the rest of the world's," Steinitz said. "Our policy is aimed at the future and incorporates high-tech reforms, higher education and capital investment laws, including a long-term plan for the budget and a gradual decrease in taxes." Steinitz added, "There is a good chance we will continue to lower unemployment rates and, simultaneously, raise the growth rate of the number of citizens in the work force." Senior government officials who deal with the economy said that there are two additional figures that validate the finance minister's current economic policy: overall growth in the number of people in the work force, referring to those that did not work until now and recently re-entered the market, which currently stands at 57.8%. Also, the rate of part-time jobs has decreased, which also testifies to the strengthening of the economy. The Finance Ministry explained that the economic plan introduced in 2009 was intended to stem the financial crisis by allocating funds for recovery at the expense of putting the brakes on financial deterioration, which led to growth and impressive data. Steinitz senior economic adviser Avi Simhon told Israel Hayom that, "The fact that we are seeing such a dramatic decrease in the percentage of unemployment during such temperamental times in the global economy indicates that the success is trickling down to all sectors of the Israeli economy. It's clear that this is related to the government policy that removes obstacles and stimulates confidence among investors. One of the things we have seen in the latest numbers is that companies are increasing levels of production and employment throughout the economy, indicating that industrialists believe in the local economy. Meanwhile, it's clear that the crowning high-tech industry has continued to lead the economy."
