Post-Zionist Aggression on Iran: Major Job Crisis Hits the “Israeli” Economy

By Al-Ahed News, Hebrew Media

The Hebrew financial website Globes revealed a major shock in the labor market of the occupation entity during June 2025, particularly in the second half of the month, when the Zionist aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran took place.

According to the report, 392,000 ‘Israeli’ workers were placed on unpaid leave for more than a week, while 345,000 were on unpaid leave for less than a week. In addition, 210,000 workers were shifted to part-time employment. Altogether, 666,000 workers were pushed out of full-time employment during the month of June.

Moreover, the number of job vacancies dropped by 8,000, and the vacancy rate per 100 workers declined from 4.37 to 4.14. According to the Bureau of Statistics, 390,000 people were recorded as temporarily absent from work during that week, including 279,000 due to economic reasons — a figure several times higher than initial estimates related to unpaid leave caused by the war.

The website described these as “dramatic figures,” far beyond what the occupation’s Ministry of Finance had anticipated. The ministry had projected that “only” 100,000 workers would go on unpaid leave due to the aggression against Iran — an assault that effectively paralyzed the economy.

However, it appears that a far larger number of workers made use of this option. Under the "agreement" reached following the war, any worker who took at least ten days of unpaid leave — even if non-consecutive — would be eligible to receive unemployment benefits.

Due to the severe disruptions in the labor market, the number of full-time workers dropped by 21%, falling from 3.2 million to just 2.5 million. This also led to a decline in the average number of working hours per employee, from 36 hours in May to only 31 in June.

The report noted that the official unemployment rate remained low at 2.7%, with unemployment among women lower at 2.3%, compared to 3.1% among men.

It also stated that June witnessed a sharp drop in job vacancies, from 140,400 to 132,000. Despite the overall decline in employment, the vacancy-to-worker ratio continued to fall — a ratio that had been particularly high in recent years.

Yet despite this decline, both the number and proportion of vacancies remained higher than in the same period of 2023, prior to the outbreak of war.

The report added: “The sector with the highest number of job vacancies is construction, which suffers from a severe labor shortage due to the ban on Palestinian workers. The vacancy rate in this sector has now reached 9.2% of total jobs, up from 6.9% before the war. In the hospitality and food services sector, the vacancy rate stands at 8.2%, compared to 7.2% before the war.”

It also highlighted that, when comparing the last three months [April–May–June] with the preceding period [March–April–May], vacancies for kitchen and cleaning staff fell by 13%. In contrast, the number of construction workers in “wet trades” — including tiling, excavation, plastering, metalwork, and structural work — rose by 21%.