Bank of Israel: 45% of haredim worked in 2011
Data released by Central Bureau of Statistics shows employment rate in haredi sector increased by 7% in two years. Government's goal: 63% employment by 2020
Bank of Israel released survey conducted by the Israeli Bureau of Statistics showing that employment rate in the haredi sector increased from 38% in 2009 to 45% in 2011.
The highest employment growth was recorded in the business sector.
For the purposes of the survey, a haredi household is defined as such if one of the household members earned his latest education at an advanced haredi yeshiva. This definition includes graduates of non-haredi yeshivot such as yeshivot hesder and excludes those who have studied at other educational institutions after completing their yeshiva studies.
The rate of haredi employment in the business sector is especially low compared with other Jewish employees, while the public sector (public administration, education etc') also faces low haredi employment rates, with less than a third of employees defined as haredim.
The government set a goal to increase the employment rate of haredi males from 40% in 2008 to 63% by 2020, however the Bank of Israel noted that in order to integrate haredim in the Israeli economy, there is a need for a substantial increase in haredi employment rates in the business sector.
Weekly working hours among haredi employees is significantly lower than other Jewish employees, which results in lower wages and makes it difficult for their household to break the cycle of poverty.
The Bank of Israel stated that the data shown in the survey is the first such indication of a swift increase in employment rates among haredim. However, it stated that the figures might be inflated due to the identification method of haredi households used by the survey.
Only additional data from other sources and future surveys will be able to determine whether indeed there is a historic shift taking place in the employment patterns of the haredi population, stated the bank.
