Ultra-Orthodox Pray at the Kotel
The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) issued a report on how its member countries can improve their standards of living by implementing reforms in the fields of labor, education and competition. On Israel, the OECD made it perfectly clear that the country needs to change its policies towards its ultra-orthodox (Haredi) community starting with ending subsidies for those who study in Tora academies known as Yeshivas.
In Israel, where military service is compulsory, the ultra-orthodox choose not to serve in the IDF. They can obtain deferments as long as they study in t=yeshivas, or until such time they reach a certain age or have a certain number of children. As a result, they cannot study in universities or build careers and so their community as a whole stagnates, is disproportionately impoverished and depends on government social welfare funding to get by.
And because they tend to have big families with many children, the Israeli government ends up paying out a great deal to each family in this community.
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Socioeconomic gaps remain wide. The duality in the business sector contributes to large labor market inequalities.
On that matter, the OECD now joins a majority of Israelis who understand that this is an untenable situation that cannot be allowed to continue.
“Certain groups, especially the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) and Arab-Israelis, are underrepresented in the thriving high-tech sector, and have low employment rates, working hours and wages,” said the OECD’s report.
In order to deal with the problem the OECD said that Israel must, “remove government subsidies for yeshiva students and condition childcare support on fathers’ employment.”
The OECD also reported that in Israel the share of the working poor is high.
And it called for an increase in the provision of accredited child care in Arab municipalities and funding for Arab schools to equalize their budget to schools with similar socio-economic profiles in the Hebrew sector.
In general, the report said that despite significant progress, barriers to foreign trade and investment remain high, with Israel’s foreign trade exposure lower than in other small OECD countries and that fostering competition can strengthen incentives to adopt new technologies.
So, it said, Israel should further cut tariffs and non-tariff barriers and streamline trade regulations.
The report came just two months after the OECD reported that Israel has the highest comparative cost of living among the world’s developed countries.
