JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The total number of unemployed people in Israel exceeded 900,000, the Israel Employment Service announced Wednesday.

Workers of Israel's culture, entertainment, and social events industry -- who are currently unemployed due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic -- gather in Rabin Square in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on April 23, 2020, to protest against the closure of their industry. (Photo: AFP)

Since Sept. 17, a day before a full nationwide lockdown took effect in Israel, 178,020 additional Israelis have applied for unemployment benefits, the bureau said.

This brings the overall number of unemployed people in Israel to 909,460.

The data also show that 63 percent of the unemployed were put on unpaid leave by their employers.

The unemployment rate in Israel currently stands at 21.7 percent, compared with a peak of 27.5 percent at the end of April.

In February, just before the pandemic broke out in Israel, the unemployment rate in the country was only 3.9 percent which was around 162,500 people.