d effects on the individual and his family. Unemployment also affects the economy as a whole. Non-involvement in production represents a total waste: the economy can never recover the product lost for every day of unemployment. It is a serious problem that the industrialized nations face, and an even greater problem in countries in the midst of a transition to industrialization. One almost always finds a clear correlation between high rates of unemployment and low rates of economic growth. Obviously, waves of immigration bring with them a certain degree of unemployment - very few immigrants find work immediately after arriving in their new country. Thus, most of the immigrants who came to Israel had to endure periods of unemployment, some longer, some shorter, before finding work. The situation of relatively rapid growth in periods of massive immigration indicates that most of the immigrants were unemployed for only a short time. Accelerated growth of the national product in itself indicates an increase in the number of people employed. The comparatively quick absorption of tens of thousands of immigrants into the labor force is another noteworthy achievement of the Israeli economy. The unemployment rate in Israel rose from 7% in 1950 to a high of 11.3% in 1953. This was the only year in the history of Israel that the national product decreased. This is not surprising in light of the fact that in that year immigration to Israel reached an all-time low (11,500 people, less than half of the number of immigrants in 1952 and less than 7% of the number of immigrants in 1951). From this point on, the rate of unemployment dropped continuously, reaching a low of 3.3% in 1964. In the next two years (again correlating with a drop in immigration) the rate of growth of the national product dropped, and unemployment climbed to 10.5% in 1967. In the following 18 years, unemployment rates ranged from 2.6% to 6% (an enviable level of unemployment relat...
