JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- With 150,600 people registered as jobless in May, Israel's monthly unemployment rate rose to 3.5 percent, according to figures published by the country's Central Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

       This is the first monthly increase in the jobless rate since August 2021. Israel registered 3.1 percent in April, the lowest in 42 years.

       A main reason for the recent decline is that some employers have stopped recruiting new workers out of worries that economic activities, including consumption, will be declining, Gad Lior, senior analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper told Xinhua.

       In a wider definition, which includes another 55,200 people who are temporarily absent from work or were laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic, the unemployment rate in Israel is currently 4.7 percent, according to the bureau.