Jerusalem, Mar 30 (IANS): Israel has announced an emergency labour plan after the national unemployment rate jumped more than five times in March, according to authorities.

On Sunday, the Israel Employment Service announced that the unemployment rate has jumped from 4 per cent to 22.6 per cent since the beginning of of this month, reports Xinhua news agency

According to the bureau, 781,608 Israelis have applied for unemployment benefits since March 1.

The total number of unemployed people in Israel currently exceeds 939,000 and was expected to reach one million in less than two weeks.

The emergency plan includes four support paths based on what is being done in the world.

These paths will focus on bringing employees at unpaid leave back to their workplaces, rapid placement of workers in new workplaces, strengthening skills of unemployed people, and a full vocational training for those who are expected to be unemployed for a long time.