The National Employment Service releases its unemployment data for April, noting a 0.7% drop in jobless claims.

According to the figures, quoted by the Jerusalem Post, the number of unemployed Israelis in April came to 193,800, from 195,100 in the previous month – the lowest level since January 2009.

“One of the key actions which helped us to cope with the global crisis and prevent a surge in unemployment to over 10%, as (has happened) in other countries, was the successful cooperation with the Histadrut Labor Federation and the Israel Manufacturers Association through the roundtable (process). The collaboration secured industrial quiet and enabled us to deal with the crisis without any strike actions,” Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said.

“The storm, though, has not yet passed and we must continue to join hands with the Histadrut Labor Federation and industry to deal with aftershocks. When we see what happens to labor relations in Greece, Spain or Italy, we need to make sure that they are different with us and maintain them the way they are.”

National Employment Service figures noted a 1.9% drop in April in seasonally adjusted terms, to 207,000.

Since April 2009, the labor market has been undergoing a steady recovery. In the months April 2009 to March 2010, the number of new jobseekers dropped by a monthly average of 2.5% after rising by a monthly average of 3.4% in the period of February 2008 to March 2009.