State employment agencies recorded a three-year low in the number of jobseekers in November - 209,000, compared to the record-high 231,000 who registered in August 2005.

According to National Employment Service Director-General Esther Dominisini, the figures indicate an improvement in the unemployment rate throughout 2006. According to Dominisini, another indication for the improvement in the state of the job market is the rise in the number of full-time positions, coupled with a drop in the number of part-time positions in the economy.

Unemployment figures dropped at an average rate of one percent throughout 2006, reflecting the decreasing number of layoffs in the economy.

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At the same time, however, November saw a rise in the number of individuals on social security benefits for periods longer than a year. Those individuals are considered by the authorities to be the "hard core" of unemployed individuals, who are difficult to place in new jobs. Their percentage of the general public applying for placement through state employment agencies has grown progressively from under 10 percent of jobseekers in 2002 to nearly 40 percent currently.

A large portion of the "hard core" of unemployed individuals live in Arab and Bedouin communities, which top the national list of high unemployment rates. The first Jewish community on the list is Kiryat Malachi at the 32nd place, with an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent of the working-age population.