The agricultural labor force has fallen to 2% and the industrial workforce to 22%, while services has increased to 76%.
Men's participation in Israel's labor force has fallen from 80% in the mid-1950s to 62% today, while women's participation has doubled from 27% to 51% over the same period. Israel's civilian labor force has grown from 631,000 in 1955 to 2.9 million in 2007, states the Central Bureau of Statistics is a special independence day report.
The proportion of full-time employees (people working at least 35 hours per week) has fallen from 78% in 1955 to 64% in 2007. 65% of part-time employees are women.
The agricultural labor force has fallen from 10% of the total labor force in 1968 to 2% today, and the industrial labor force (including industry, construction, water, and electricity) has fallen from 33% of the total force in 1995 to 22% in 2007. The proportion of service sector employees has risen from 56% of the labor force to 76% over the same period.
Israel's highest unemployment rate was 11.2% in 1992 and the lowest was 2.6% in 1973.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 6, 2008
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