Israel's unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 10.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2001, the highest level in nine years, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on today.
The unemployment rate was up from 9.6 per cent in the third quarter and 8.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2000.
Israel's economy has been hit by a global slowdown that has reduced demand for technnology exports and by the 17-month-old Palestinian uprising that has hurt the tourism and construction sectors.