Labor market in July 2026: rise in job seekers due to seasonal factors
A new employment report reveals that the number of job seekers reached 173.5 thousand, driven by seasonal layoffs in the education sector. Meanwhile, there is an increase in the share of academics and those from high socio-economic clusters.
The Israeli labor market continued its recovery trend in July 2026, despite a seasonal increase in the number of registered job seekers, which reached 173.5 thousand, an addition of about 4.6 thousand from June. The increase is largely explained by the phenomenon of summer layoffs from the education system, which accounted for about 20% of new registrants (8.1 thousand). When neutralizing seasonality, the trend figure continued to decline to 171.6 thousand. At the same time, the demand for workers strengthened and reached about 150.2 thousand job vacancies, a ratio of about 0.81 vacancies per job seeker.
The profile of job seekers continues to change, with an increase in the share of academics by 20.3% and in affiliation with high socio-economic clusters by 20.4%. The seasonal effect was particularly prominent among women, 55.5% of the seekers, and the ultra-Orthodox society with an increase of 24.4% recorded mainly in cities like Modi'in Illit and Beitar Illit. On the geographical side, the gaps remained the same; the highest rates of job seekers were recorded in Rahat at 6.0% and Umm al-Fahm at 5.6%, compared to only about 2.3% in the central cities.
Another prominent trend is the shift from chronic unemployment to temporary fluctuations; the rate of unemployment benefit claimants reached a peak of 78.2% since the beginning of the year, while the rate of income support claimants dropped to a low of 18.7%. This figure indicates that most applicants register for short periods only and are expected to return quickly to the employment cycle.
