Just before the big closure, Israelis set out to stock up on food chains • "70% -50% increase in online orders" • The Treasury estimates: The closure will cost 50 billion shekels if it lasts a month
A jump in shoppers in the retail chains was recorded on Wednesday, and at the same time, the Prime Minister's Office was flooded with urgent requests to exclude industries from the closure.
The news of the closure led to a jump in the number of buyers in the chains and also in the height of the shopping basket, but according to Rami Levy, "there was an assault yesterday and yesterday (Thursday) an assault began.
Photo: GPO
However, it is not in the same way as it was towards the previous closure in March, when everyone pounced.
As consumers buy more, the shelves need to be filled frequently. "Yossi Shalev, Tiv Ta'am's VP of trade and marketing, also points out that there is strong traffic in the branches.
He said, "Yesterday there was a lot of traffic in the branches and yesterday also started from the morning. People are seen on the streets with food bags, this is the herd panic. People are shopping for both the holiday and the shopping. The online is exploding with 70% -50% growth. We work on Friday until 22: 00, are also open on Saturdays and there are branches that work 24 hours a day. "
According to Michael Luboszic, CEO of the Bitan Wines Group, "there is a 20% increase in shopping, people are shopping for weekends and holidays. There is no shortage of goods, but there is some vegetables. This is due to the extreme heat."
Eitan Yohananoff, owner of the Yohananoff chain, added, "During the day we see a significant increase in the number of visits to the branches. In our pick-up service, there is a doubling of orders and there are no delays in delivering orders. We will meet demand."
The Shufersal chain has seen an increase since the beginning of the week.
The network said: "We are preparing for the holiday, accompanied by a closure for congestion both in stores and online."
The feature in the economy began last week, before New Year's Eve, when the first restrictions were imposed in preparation for the full closure.
Many employers rushed to send workers to the IDF. According to reports from the Employment Service, more than 11,000 workers were fired in the last day until yesterday.
Last week, 55,000 workers were sent to their homes. Since last Thursday, the day before New Year's Eve, 120,752 jobseekers have been registered in the employment service, of which 110,652 went to the IDF and 10,010 for other reasons.
Of the jobseekers registered since last Thursday - 93,766 workers were registered for the second time since the start of the Corona crisis in March;
This is 78% of the subscribers in this wave.
Of those 93,766 enrolled in the employment service in the past week and at least once more since the crisis began, 70% are women and only 30% are men.
The “revolving door” has particularly hit a number of occupations: teaching, education and training (26% of this group), sales (22%), food restaurants and events (13%).
Today, 854,367 jobseekers are registered in the employment service, of which 522,191 are in the Knesset - about 61% of those registered.
The contractors will be excluded from the quarantine
As stated, since the announcement of the intention to close, representatives of the high-tech industries, manufacturers, restaurateurs and others have appealed to the Prime Minister to demand that they be excluded from the closure.
The president of the Manufacturers' Association addressed the ministers of finance, health and economics and industry and demanded that they exclude industry and high-tech from the restrictions and allow them to continue operating at least 30% of the workforce, similar to the previous closure.
This is especially in light of the figure which shows that to date less than 1% of workers in the industry have been infected with the corona virus.
Among other things, the president of the association demands the exclusion of high-tech companies and industries vital to the economy, such as water, energy, food, agriculture, toiletries and more.
Yehuda Ketab, chairman of the Tel Aviv and Central District Contractors' Association, vice president of the Builders of the Country Contractors Association, addressed the prime minister and said that "half a year since the Corona crisis began, we are in a significant drop in construction starts, about 45% in the second quarter. This year, along with an alarming rise in housing prices. "
In the previous closure, the contractors faced a huge shortage of available manpower, even though they were excluded from the closure, but it was determined that the manpower challenges created for them could not constitute a sufficient cause, ie not a "force majeure" - and they were not allowed to use this cause.
This time, following inquiries from the contractors, the chairman of the Constitution Committee announced that the contractors would be excluded from the quarantine.
A reporter mentioned in his request to exclude the contractors from the closure, and the huge leverage of the industry in the amount of one trillion shekels.
In such leverage, the risk of the industry is the risk of the economy in general.
Finance Minister Israel Katz yesterday referred to the private sector outline: "I am proud that after a difficult struggle I was able to change the outline of the private sector, and contrary to the intention that emerged yesterday, to allow many enterprises that were to close in high-tech, defense, construction, finance and services. March-April. "
The rumor about the closure also led to a weakening of the shekel against the dollar and the euro - a reversal of a trend compared to recent months.
The dollar traded yesterday for NIS 3.48 and the euro reached NIS 4.05.
The chief economist at the Ministry of Finance estimates that the cost of the closure will be NIS 35 billion if the closure lasts 3 weeks, and NIS 50 billion if it lasts a month.
Ariel Kahana participated in the preparation of the article
