Jerusalem – In addressing the ongoing problem of assimilating Haredis into the workforce, leading Labor Party Knesset member Erel Margalit says that the solution must come from a “public-private partnership” and that perhaps the best place to look to for help is Israel’s booming High-Tech industry.
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IBTIMES.co.uk (http://bit.ly/1q72FGi) reports that during a recent interview Margalit said that people need to stop viewing the the training process for Haredis as a “cost” but instead a “multi-year investment” that will have Haredis paying for themselves within a 3-4 year window.
With 2011 statistics showing that less than half of Haredi men between the ages of 25 and 64 are gainfully employed, Margalit suggested that Israel’s High-Tech industry may hold the perfect solution.
“The high tech industry in Israel has always been sensitive to different cultures because when we build a company, we always build a mini multinational. We work with the UK or the US or the French or the Chinese and so this was just yet another culture to absorb,” Margalit said.
The issue may not be just “cultural”….over the past two generations, a larger percentage of Chareidi boys and girls have grown up in households where neither parent worked a normal full time job and indeed, the concept of “work” was looked down upon. Girls were told that marrying a full time “learner” was a real accomplishment. Rather, there was no stigma associated with relying on welfare from the government and tzadakah to get by. As a result, many of today’s chareidim are simply lazy and don’t see a job as something positive that they should train for, get an education and pursue. Until this selfish, lazy mindset is changed in some Chareidi families, all the job fairs in the world won’t make a difference, whether in high-tech factories or flipping falafel balls at the fast-food takeout.