JERUSALEM, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The employment rate of the Arab women in Israel surged almost 20 percent by the end of September, according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday.

Compared with 128,000 in the second quarter of 2017, about 154,000 Arab women in Israel, or 40 percent of all Arab-Israeli women aged 25-64, were employed in the second and third quarter of 2018, just a step away from the 41-percent employment target set for 2020.

The overall employment rate of women in Israel, both Jewish and Arabs, was 74.3 percent in the second quarter of 2018.

Arab women and the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community are the two largest sources of growth in the Israeli economy because of their typical low employment.

The low employment of Arab women in Israel over the years can be attributed to the small percentage of Arab toddlers in day-care centers, lack of bus lines in Arab cities and villages, and small employment spaces for them.