Treasury working on plan to fight unemployment
Concerned that nation's employment situation could worsen, Finance Ministry puts together program that will include professional training and more stringent eligibility conditions for unemployment insurance
The Finance Ministry is working on a plan to fight unemployment that focuses on developing dozens of professional training programs as well as making eligibility for unemployment insurance more stringent.
The measures come as the global economic crisis began to make itself felt in Israel in recent weeks.
Global unemployment rates rose this past year, and there is concern that Israel – whose jobless rate was one of the lowest in the world – will see increased unemployment in the coming months. According to estimates, the current jobless rate in Israel is hovering between 7-7.5%.
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"There is concern that in light of what's happening in many nations the recession will worsen and that difficulties in exporting to those nations, along with the significant slowdown in Israel, will push unemployment up to 10%. The number of unemployed could reach 150,000," warned a senior Treasury official.
The program seeks to train haredim (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov)
The plan calls for the government, which in recent years shut down nearly all training programs, to re-launch dozens of programs to provide training in essential industries, mainly in locales that could potentially become unemployment hotspots.
Training will be provided in professions that currently suffer from a lack of qualified professionals: engraving, plumbing, machinists, construction, and certain high-tech jobs, and will mainly target those populations who are not currently employed and those who are trained in fields that are in low demand.
One senior Treasury official told Mamon that all the training courses would include monthly salaries paid by the government comprising at least minimum wage, and will cover travel expenses from the participant's home to the place of study.
At the same time, it will be more difficult to qualify for unemployment insurance. The same official said that "we need to bring thousands of people who aren't seeking work because they don't have any professional qualifications into the job market. Unemployed people can't just keep looking for work in cleaning or security, or hundreds of thousands of untrained people will stay poor all their lives. The goal is to train thousands of people in professions that are in demand."
It has not yet been decided what changes will be made to the terms of eligibility for unemployment insurance.
Gal Hershkowitz, head of the Finance Ministry's Budget Branch, confirmed that the ministry was working on a new plan to fight unemployment and integrate the unemployed into the job market.
"We are working to ensure that the program encompasses the poorest populations. We will put special emphasis on the haredim, Arab women, and people with no professional training in the periphery and in the center of the country."
The plan is expected to be a major point in the Arrangements Law, which will be presented to the government along with the state budget. However, if early elections are called, a new program will be designed and implemented soon to prevent a sudden jump in unemployment.
