IDI director says majority of Israel’s unemployed between 30 and 50
“These people should think what it’s like to have your job simply vanish overnight, how hard it is, how would they feel if it would happen to them?”
By HAGAY HACOHENDaphna Aviram-Nitzan, the director of the Israel Democracy Institute's (IDI) Center for Governance and the Economy(photo credit: ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE)
The daily news reports describe the one million Israelis who are out of work as members of what will become a “lost generation” of young people deprived of entry-level jobs and who are now unable to support themselves through school. However, according to research by the Israel Democracy Institute, 50% of job seekers are older – between the ages of 30 and 54.IDI’s Center for Governance and the Economy Director Daphna Aviram Nitzan said that many of these people owned and ran family businesses that are now fated to close. Others work in industries that were demolished by the pandemic, such as tourism or travel.Take Alex Stein, a British-Israeli in his late 30s who was a self-employed tour-guide before the pandemic, and has been out of work since it started. He expressed anger over what he feels is a lack of effort by the Tourism Ministry to provide direction to people in his predicament.Unlike some others, Stein said he has gotten support from both the Tax Authority and the National Insurance Institute. But he said that he feels there has been a lack of sensitivity on the part of the government.“These people should think what it’s like to have your job simply vanish overnight, how hard it is, how would they feel if it would happen to them?” he said.Some 170,000 people were officially unemployed before the virus hit, Aviram Nitzan said. She explained that there is “no way the country can offer unemployment benefits for one million people and leave it at that. If employers aren’t re-hiring their people now it’s because they can’t afford to pay them or they don’t need them. There is no point in offering ongoing support to businesses for no good reason.”Instead, Nitzan suggested that unemployment benefits should be introduced as part of new vocational training programs that will encourage people to gain new skills or take on new career paths.“The average Israeli worker,” she told The Jerusalem Post, “lacks digital orientation and English language skills when compared to his counterpart in other OECD countries. This means that a factory owner might invest in new machinery, but some workers are unable to operate them because the instructions are in English.”New educational programs could train those seeking a career in green energies, as the nation is due to present to the UN Climate Change conference a working plan on how it intends to tackle global climate changes, Nitzan offered.“We could use the year to train the workers we will need to carry out such a plan,” she said, “as it is likely to be approved and funded.”
Beyond education, Nitzan said that Israel’s economy is plagued by bureaucracy, with up to 80% of the work needed to start a new business spent working through it and the average time to build a factory being five years.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz have vowed that grants are on the way “directly to your bank accounts,” but so far, most Israelis say these grants have not arrived.Dov (real name withheld) told the Post that he only got a grant on Thursday after losing 100% of his business in March.Once the head of an exhibition production company, he has not worked since exhibitions were halted.“The business is closed,” Dov said, “and with it the five full-time workers and the 10 part-time workers that drew a paycheck from it are gone.”He had run the company for 15 years.Dov slammed the government for being “awful, uncaring,” and said that he has been taking part in the mass protests against the government because “people have nothing to eat.”When Nitzan was asked about the workers’ rage, which includes calls not to pay taxes or even follow Health Ministry coronavirus guidelines, she said it is a real danger to democracy. But Nitzan admitted this rage likely surfaces out of desperation. She said that “people feel helpless,” which is why “the state should offer options and financial motivations to pursue them.”
