Employment chances for the orthodox: Like those with no education • Research

Many in Israel have criticized the orthodox public that does not integrate in the job market in Israel, but a new study by Professor Dan Ben-David, head of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies show that the chances of employment of ultra-Orthodox men are the same as those who have not completed elementary school.

The study, published this morning (Monday) at Haaretz, suggests ongoing deterioration in employment rates of orthodox and uneducated men.

According to Ben - David, the high employment erosion is incompatible to the changes in the labor market. "At the end of the seventies, when the standard of living was relatively low, not many skills were required to find work in the economy, but the economy is now competitive and open to the global economy."

"The data reflects the lack of employment opportunities the orthodox education system grants its students," adds Ben David. "Orthodox boys are not taught the core curriculum after the eighth grade, and their curriculum until then is also lacking - and thus the preparation of ultra-Orthodox men into the labor market is the same preparation as uneducated Israeli men, and has caused a steady drop for their chances to find work," he adds.

Professor Ben-David ruled out the possibility that the drop is due to a decrease in motivation to work, or for some other reason. "There was no significant change to affect a radical way of motivation to work, which will also decrease by about half the amount of work," he says, noting that there has not been, for example, any revolution in allowances.

"The implications of this data for the future economy, is far reaching," he says. "Orthodox children are now more than 20% of children in elementary schools - and in the last decade their numbers grew by 57%, compared with an increase of less than half a percent of the general education system."

However, Prof. Amiram Gonen, Department of Geography at the Hebrew University, who previously headed the Floersheimer Research Institute, says that the reason is not educational at all. "The orthodox decline is not because they are uneducated, but because it was more and more popular not to go to work. The Non - orthodox, however, they are prisoners of the lack of education in the job market," he says, noting, "This is like comparing pears to apples."

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