Imagine how such a bleak reality is being experienced by minority groups.
Minority groups in Israeli society – such as the Ethiopian community, the Arab population and people with disabilities – are constantly challenged, even in ordinary times. Minority communities are in constant pursuit of equal opportunity, particularly in education, employment and welfare.
When members of these communities set out to look for a job, they must overcome employers’ prejudices, indifference or even pure racism. Indeed, according to the most recent report issued in December 2019 by Israel’s Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), 7.5% of the approximately 7,600 complaints received in 2018 concerned discrimination based on nationality or ethnic origin.
The COVID-19 crisis has made the “regular” employment struggle even more unbearable, as hundreds of thousands of unemployed Israelis pour into Israel’s employment offices. As job-seekers find themselves on a slippery slope to an unknown abyss, the consequences among minority groups can be fatal, a determination supported by data from the EEOC and the country’s National Anti-Racism Unit.
This reality should have ceased to exist a long time ago. After all, for decades now there has been a broad consensus that the workforce must be diverse and representative. The 1959 “Civil Service Law [Appointments]” clearly stipulates the state’s obligation to ensure proper representation of a variety of sub-groups in society, representation that must be apparent within all levels, ranks and professions.
The Civil Service Commission is responsible for advancing, within its purview, the integration of members of communities suffering from institutionalized exclusion and specific discrimination. In recognition of this responsibility, in 2018 it established a diversity department specifically created to achieving this goal.
Working-age Israeli Jews of Ethiopian origin account for 1.8% of the country’s labor force (this is also the community’s approximate representation in the overall population). According to the commission’s latest diversity report released in May (and covering 2019), Ethiopian Israelis comprise 2.8% of those employed in the civil service, reflecting a 1.2% increase from 2015-19. This is the good news.
The bad news? Only 41% of Israeli civil service units are actually realizing stipulated objectives in this regard, and 14% of these units do not employ any Ethiopian Israelis. Furthermore, the modest increase previously achieved has since plateaued.
NO LESS important – perhaps even more so for the medium- and long-term: Their presence in high-quality senior and professional positions in the public sector is negligible or nonexistent.
This unacceptable state of affairs was reinforced by figures recently presented to the Knesset by the Justice Minister, according to which Ethiopian Israelis account for only 0.39% of those filling positions reserved for academics in government corporations.
The situation in Israel’s private and business sectors is even worse. Members of the Ethiopian Israeli community experience discrimination on a regular basis as they compete for suitable employment, while they are denied employment without any logical or visible explanation other than assuming such denials are based on their ethnic origin.
This has been Olim Beyahad’s world for more than a decade. For years our NGO has been working hard to advance the employment integration of Ethiopian Israelis holding university degrees. Our goal isn’t complicated. We aim to provide Ethiopian Israeli university graduates with professions and equal opportunities to obtain employment that suits their high-level qualifications.
This process, which requires overcoming employers’ prejudices and reservations, is never easy. However, what we have witnessed since the outbreak of COVID-19 is extremely worrisome. Now that the unemployment problem is a major nationwide crisis, discrimination based on skin color is viewed as a minor trifle. But this “minor trifle” – particularly during this period – is critical for the members of our community.
Olim Beyahad provides the necessary tools and encourages partnerships between leaders of Israel’s economy – central figures in the employment market – and talented Ethiopian Israeli academics, both those who are about to join the work force and those who are already employed. The professional networks created as a result of this cooperation strives for a more diverse and pluralistic labor force that will lead Israel toward further prosperity, even in these challenging times.
The barriers placed before Ethiopian Israeli academics must be removed by those who head the labor force and can enable the integration, progress and ultimate success of such young people who are filled potential. We are doing our part within civil society. Government and business leaders need to do theirs.
The writer is the CEO of Olim Beyahad, a nonprofit organization involved in promoting the employment integration of young Ethiopian Israeli adults and changing society’s perceptions and opinions of Ethiopian Israelis.