It is an open secret that Israeli employers are reluctant to hire minorities, be they Israeli Arabs, Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews ) or other groups. President Shimon Peres has made it his personal mission to change that, and to integrate both communities into the Israeli workforce, so as to alleviate poverty among them and advance the Israeli economy.
Peres will begin studying the Haredi issue tomorrow, by visiting companies that employ Haredim in the ultra-orthodox city of Elad. And to advance the integration of Arabs into Israel’s high-tech scene, for the greater good of both, he has already put together a coalition of CEOs from Israel’s top 20 high-tech companies.
Young educated Arabs trying to enter the job market in Israel tend to find it a frustrating experience. And once in position, they tend to crash into a glass ceiling.
"Integrating Arab college graduates into the high-tech industry is the burning issue of the day, economically and socially," the president told TheMarker yesterday, predicting that Israel’s Arabs would give the economy a significant boost.
He then turned to the other segment, saying, "There is no contradiction between Judaism and science." Haredim must be encouraged to learn technological professions so they can find jobs in high-tech, Peres added. He pointed out that many Haredi women have already found jobs in high-tech, making enough to extract their families from poverty.
The 20 CEOs joining hands with Peres to promote the employment of Arabs in Israeli high-tech include Maxine Fessberg of Intel Israel, Danny Inbar of Sandisk Israel, Boaz Maoz of Cisco Israel, Moshe Lichtman of the Microsoft Israel R&D center, Russell Ellwanger of TowerJazz (formerly Tower Semiconductor ), Joshua Bakola of HP Israel, Micky Steiner of SAP Israel, Amir Peleg of TaKaDu, Zeevi Bregman of NICE Systems, Meir Nissensohn of IBM Israel, Eli Campo of LivePerson ("intelligent engagement, more than live chat" ), Shai On of Computer Associates in Israel, Rafi Maor of ECI Telecom, and serial high-tech entrepreneur Yossi Vardi.
The coalition will be setting up a designated website, to be jointly operated by the nonprofit organization Kav Mashve, which helps job-seekers find work, and the Manpower company. The purpose of the site, to be called Maantech.org.il, will be to match Arab college graduates looking for jobs with employers.
Peres will hold a press conference on Wednesday to present his plan, together with the 20 CEOs.
"The president’s project arose from a process of exchanging ideas with the CEO of Cisco Systems, John Chambers," said Uri Ben-Porat, who works closely with Peres. The concept boiled down to creating a coalition of the 20 "most impressive" technology companies in Israel.
"It isn’t a closed coalition," Ben-Porat said. "On the contrary," the idea is for other companies to come on board.
The coalition is starting with the Israeli Arab community, but it may well be expanded to encompass Haredim, too, and other industries beyond high-tech as well, he said.
Peres is also acutely aware of the missed potential in the ultra-Orthodox community. There, too, he wants to set up a coalition, as he has already done for the Arab community. Today he will visit the city of Elad, tour companies operating there and hold a round-table discussion with business leaders on how to integrate the community into the workforce.
The proportion of adults who work in both the Israeli Arab and Haredi communities is low. Only about 39% of Haredi men work, compared with 75.7% in the Israeli population as a whole. Among Haredi women, the employment rate is 58%. A survey in 2009 concluded that 59% of Haredi households live in poverty, compared with 12.9% of households in the general population.
Among Arabs, 56% of households with a single breadwinner live in poverty, compared with 15% of the general population. The employment rate among Arab women is 21%, compared with 57% among Jews. Arab men do work, but tend to retire as early as 45 because they often work in menial labor.
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