The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported last week that the unemployment rate fell to 6.5% in January 2013 from 6.8% in December 2012.
In a press release the CBS noted that participation in the labor force fell from 59.3% in December to 59.2% in January.
The employment rate (calculated as the percentage of employed persons out of the entire population) among persons aged 15 and over declined to 59.3% in January 2013 (compared with 59.4% in December 2012). Participation by people 15-64 in labor force was 3.63 million in January, of whom 3,396,000 were employed and 236,000 were unemployed.
The employment rate among males declined to 64.9% (compared with 65.0% in December 2012). The employment rate among females declined to 53.9% (compared with 54.1% in December 2012).
Among persons aged 25-64 the employment rate declined to 74.0% (compared with
74.1% in December 2012). Among males aged 25-64 the employment rate declined to 79.9% (compared with 80.0% in December 2012), and among females aged 25-64 the employment rate declined to 68.3% (compared with 68.4% in December 2012).
