About 70 percent of young haredi (ultra-Orthodox) students see themselves
spending an extended amount of time engaged in religious studies in yeshiva,
according to research conducted by the Industry, Trade and Labor
Ministry.
The survey published on Monday reviewed the opinions and
attitudes of 400 unmarried yeshiva students aged 17- 20 from a cross section of
haredi society including Ashkenazi hassidim, non-hassidim and
Sephardim.
The study asked respondents what percentage of their friends
they estimated would stay within the yeshiva framework.
Seventy percent
said half to most of their friends would remain in long-term Torah study, while
30% said they expected that very few of their friends would do
so.
Results varied slightly over the different streams, with 85% of
non-hassidic Ashkenazi haredim saying they expected their friends to stay in
full-time study compared to 61% of hassidic respondents.
Between 15-40%
of respondents, depending on stream, said they would only limit their time in
yeshiva upon getting married, in order to learn a profession or enter an
institute of higher learning to gain a foothold in the job market.
The
current rate of ultra- Orthodox men participating in the labor market is 46%,
according to new figures from the Bank of Israel.
The survey also
examined attitudes among young haredi males about serving in the IDF.
Of
those questioned, 41% said they would be very or moderately interested in
joining the IDF’s Shahar program for haredi soldiers, with 59% saying that they
had little or no interest in doing so.
The current annual rate of haredi
enlistment is approximately 16% of the potential draft from that
sector.
Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Shalom Simhon said the
findings indicate changing trends in haredi society.
“More and more
haredim are requesting to join the labor market,” he said. “So the new ‘Tal Law’
that will be arranged will provide an opportunity for the integration of haredim
into the work force, which needs everyone available.”
Simhon added that
his ministry is operating a number of different programs aimed at encouraging
haredim to join the job market.
Simhon said that the government has
approved the allocation of NIS 1.5 billion for stimulating the employment of
minorities and haredim, in accordance with the recommendations of the
Trajtenberg Report.
Approximately 60% of those surveyed said they
preferred the religious services professions – with positions including scribes
for religious texts, rabbinical judges, rabbis, kashrut supervisors and yeshiva
teachers.
But at the same time, 51% of those questioned said that they
would be interested in the field of “computers” and software testing, 38% in
law, 33% in banking and 31% in accounting.