"The total number of those dismissed in the month of June stood at 16,084 (the highest number since July 2009), of which 7,497 were men and 8,587 were women," it said.

"The rate of unemployment in the civil work force in June 2012 stood at 5.58 percent and has been continuously rising since the beginning of the year," it added.

It said that in July, 118,762 women and 88,229 men registered as jobseekers with the Employment Service, most of them from academic posts, management or jobs as technical, sales or service professionals.

The government last month began to put in place an austerity plan, which included a 1.0 percent increase in VAT and other measures that look set to affect the poorest sectors of society, to address a gaping budget deficit.

Tax revenues have fallen because of a slowdown in economic growth, which is forecast at 2.3 percent this year, compared with 4.7 percent in 2011, according to forecasts by Bank Hapoalim.