Inbal Mashash, director general of the Israel Employment Service, spoke on Tuesday with Anat Davidov on the program 'Where the Money Is' and addressed the worrying trend.

According to the CBS Labor Force Survey Data for May 2026, a total of 4,469,000 Israelis were considered in the workforce (61.6%), of whom 126,500 (2.8%) were unemployed.

The Employment Service links the historic unemployment surge to AI, but experts blame downsizings on high interest rates, a weak dollar, and past over-hiring by companies.