Research conducted by the Samuel Neaman Institute at the Technion in Haifa and published this week revealed that male employment in the haredi sector increased by 27 percent in the last ten years.
In 2011, employment among haredi men stood at 46% compared with 36.2% in 2002, according to Bank of Israel statistics, compared to a national average of 78%.
Employment among haredi women stood at 61% in 2011, up from 47% in 1997, while the 2011 national average was 66%.
Other data published by the institute’s Project for the Integration of Haredim in the labor force showed that the number of haredim in academic colleges increased from 3,000 to 7,300 in the last five years.
In the same time frame, 10,000 haredi men conducted national service in the IDF or in the Civilian Service framework.
Dr. Reuven Gal, director of the project, said that the findings were encouraging and demonstrated that it was possible to effect change in the field of haredi employment.
He noted however, that new tools must used to maintain progress, claiming that that for every 10 haredi candidates looking for work there is only one place of work willing to employ them, due in part to “prejudices and stereotypes” of many employers, although noting that lack of qualifications is also a factor.
The institute’s study recommended several ideas for further increasing haredi employment, including the establishment of an extra-curricular framework for teaching haredi school children English, Mathematics and Computer studies.
At present, the haredi school system teaches very little of the state core curriculum, but the institute argues that there is little opposition in the haredi community to the three basic studies mentioned.
Gal has been an outspoken critic of the High Court of Justice’s decision to strike down the Tal Law earlier this year, calling the ruling “an historic mistake” during a Knesset hearing on the issue of haredi employment last month.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Gal said that the increase in haredi participation in national service programs, academic colleges and the labor force were all achieved over a period of five years from 2007 to 2012 during the operative period of the Tal Law, which despite being passed in 2002, was not implemented till 2007.
If the Tal Law had not been struck down, the numbers of haredi men participating in national service programs would have reached 60% – 70% of the community in ten years Gal claimed, similar to the figures which the recent failed efforts to replace the Tal Law were discussing.
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