Employment Ministry: Israeli employment market registers negative balance

For first time since 2003. Data shows that some 150,000 people have been laid off in the past three months. hardest hit sector - hi-tech market
 
Israel's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor reported last week that for the first time in five years, since 2003, Israeli employment market has registered a negative employment balance.
 
The Ministry of employment's report indicated that the number of available jobs on the market in the final quarter of 2008 was 50% lower than in the third quarter and 60% lower than last year.
 
The report also noted that the average number of available jobs calculated in this quarter was 25,000 as opposed to some 46,000 jobs available in the three months period July to September 2008 and around 60,000 during the final quarter of 2007.
 
The data shows that some 150,000 people have been laid off in the past three months, as opposed to only 134,000 people in the three months period prior to that.
 
The hardest hit sector has been the hi-tech market. The lay-off rate has almost doubled between quarters: 12,000 individuals in the October-December period compared to only 7,000 in the three months before that.