Charedi and Arab cities, or cities with higher Charedi or Arab populations, made up 12 out of 15 of the cities with the highest unemployment rates in Israel in January amid the country’s third coronavirus lockdown, according to the Israeli Employment Service (IES).
Haredi cities suffered the sharpest increases in unemployment rates in January, with four Charedi cities (Beitar Illit, Elad, Modi’in Illit and Bnei Brak) reporting a more than 4% rise in unemployment rates compared to December.
“With the opening of trade, hotels and the education system, the rate of job seekers in them will fall significantly in the coming weeks,” said IES Director-General Rami Garor. “This is how we saw the impact of the green islands policy on the economy of Eilat, and this is how we saw the impact of the opening of trade and tourism industries in previous months on the economies of these cities.”
Beitar Illit placed second place on the list, with 30.9% of the city’s workforce unemployed in January, followed by Umm al-Fahm with 29.8% unemployed and Nazareth with 29.6% unemployed.
The high rates of unemployment in Arab cities, Tiberias and Eilat that were noticed already in December were largely caused by the closure of tourism, commerce and services industries in late December, according to Dr. Gal Zohar, director of the research and policy department at the IES.
The spike in unemployment in Charedi cities came amid additional restrictions that were imposed in January, mainly restrictions on the education system which affected many residents of Charedi cities, either due to their being part of teaching staff or due to their needing to go on unpaid leave to take care of their children.
