CAMERA’s Israel office yesterday prompted correction of a Reuters article which erroneously reported Israel’s current unemployment rate as higher than 20 percent. The actual figure is 12 percent. The Sept. 18 article had erred (“Israel returns to lockdown as COVID-19 cases mount“): “Israel’s unemployment rate is over 20%.”
In fact, as reported Sept. 17 by Bank of Israel Research Department Director Prof. Michel Strawczynski, Israel’s unemployment rate currently stands at about 12 percent, or 500,000 unemployed.
Likewise, a September 14 press release from the Central Bureau of Statistics, in August Israel’s unemployment rate stood at 11.2 percent.
During the first coronavirus lockdown last spring, Israel’s unemployment exceeded 20 percent, but as the economy mostly opened again at the end of the first lockdown, many of the unemployed had been able to return to work.
In response to communication from CAMERA, Reuters commendably corrected the article, which now accurately reports: “Israel’s unemployment rate is about 12%, according to the Bank of Israel.” In addition, Reuters posted a correction prominently at the top of the article alerting readers to the change: “(This September 18 story corrects unemployment rate in paragraph 4 from 20% to 12%).”Update: 7:22 am EST: Reuters Corrects Arabic Report
In response to additional communication from CAMERA, Reuters commendably corrected the erroneous figure in its Arabic report as well.For the Arabic version of this post, please see CAMERA Arabic.