The Employment Service warns that the unemployment rate in Israel at the end of 2020 will be 12% • The Employment Service warns of a "lost generation" of young people
Employment Bureau
Photo:
Joshua Joseph
Although the employment service publishes inaccurate unemployment data, it continues to provide advice on how to deal with the corona crisis. As it turned out, at least a third of those defined as "unemployed" by the employment service are not in practice, and yet the employment service "warns of a slow rate of return to work along with continued registration of new job seekers, which strengthens the estimate that by 2020 about half a million Israelis (12% unemployment) We will be left without a job. "
According to the CBS, the weighted unemployment rate is a little over 10%, and only if the restrictions are tightened - this rate will rise to the level predicted in the employment service. Further along this line, the employment service warns of a "lost generation" of young people, compared to Spain and Greece. This is despite the fact that there is an abysmal gap between the Israeli economy, which is prone to high-tech professions, and young people in Greece and Spain.
• The unemployment rate is lower than reported
• The Governor of the Bank of Israel presents: Two contraction scenarios - 4.5% -7%
• Severe recession: The economy has shrunk - but less than in most of the world
The Employment Service calls for increased government intervention, and for a balance between three components: Social safety net - tools that encourage employee retention as a substitute for dismissal; Efforts to encourage employment integration - even if the price for some people will be a temporary entry into a state of underemployment; Strengthening human capital for the future market. Under the proposal, the German model will be adopted, under which workers can receive up to 60% of their salary without work, as well as flexibility in terms of employment, such as part-time work and rotation work.
Following the Corona crisis and to encourage a rapid return of sick leave or layoffs, the government decided to subsidize the wages of those who integrate into the workforce for four months. The potential for those eligible for the grant is about 200,000 employers for about 700,000 people.
The service recommends encouraging employment through benefits, in a way that will ensure that the work and training will always be more rewarding than providing benefits only. "Today there are many jobs that are not staffed in the hotels, industry and more," the employment service explains.
According to the director of the employment service, Rami Graur, "a balance is needed between two complementary tracks: strengthening the level of skill of job seekers, and an effective incentive for their integration into work. In addition, there is no escape from increasing demand directly by the government, including in national government projects that will also affect labor productivity. "
According to the Minister of Economy and Industry, Amir Peretz, "The most effective way to return workers is through a flexible sick leave - employers will be able to employ part-time workers according to their needs, while the state will pay workers their wages, through the sick leave they receive anyway. In bad faith, they will pay for it. "