Industrial action by teachers and healthcare workers last year mean more days were lost to strikes in 2019 than at any other time in the past 25 years, national statistics agency CBS said on Friday.

There were 26 separate strikes in 2019, involving an estimated 319,000 workers. This takes the number of lost days above that of 2017 when there were 32 strikes – the highest number since the 1980s – but fewer strikers.

Some 90% of the workers who went on strike last year were either teachers or care workers, the CBS said. Just two of the strikes were not called by a union.