With 15,000 new families now subsisting under the poverty line, poverty rose by 0.6 percent in 2009, Comparative data reveal that poverty increased from 19.9 percent in 2008 to 20.5 percent in 2009, with poverty among children increasing to 34 percent in the same period. The sharpest rise was observed among families with one to three children, from 17.8 percent in 2008 to 20.2 percent in 2009.
According to a report published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, comparing poverty and well-being in Israel with the European Union, Israel ranks worse than any of the 27 countries that belong to the EU on almost all socioeconomic indicators. Twenty-nine percent of Israelis who are not yet poor are at risk of falling below the poverty line, compared to only 16 percent in EU states. Furthermore, 38 percent of Israeli children and 33 percent of the elderly are at risk of becoming poor, compared to 19 percent and 20 percent, respectively, in the EU countries.
“Poverty has indeed risen, but we need to remember this was a year of crisis and rising unemployment,” declared NII director general Esther Dominissini at a press conference in which the report was presented to Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog. “…This is temporary poverty.”Professor (Emeritus) Yoseph Katan from Tel Aviv University warns that while some poverty is indeed cyclical, Israel also suffers from entrenched poverty that spans generations. Katan, whose teaching and research have covered social planning and policy, social services, poverty, human service organizations and community work, warns that only a combination of “personal and government responsibility can bring about any change in the situation” and demands that the government establish a “Combat Poverty Agency.”The Jerusalem Report: Poverty in Israel is growing, in numbers and in depth. Why is this so? Professor Yoseph Katan: First, Israel has extremely high levels of non-participation in the labor force, especially among the Arab and ultra-Orthodox populations. Nearly half of all Israeli-Arab families and some 60 percent of all haredi families are poor, but these are people who chose not to work. This percentage is higher than any other country in the OECD. However, we should also note that the Arabs suffer from discrimination in employment and live mostly in the periphery, where jobs are much harder to find. Second, salaries and especially the minimum wage are very low. Third, these same two populations have very large families.Yet Israel has an extensive system of welfare payments, child allotments and subsidies that are intended to curb poverty.For many years, successive governments have decided not to raise welfare payments, especially not for large families. This is an ideological decision: Even if policy makers are not saying so overtly, they have decided not to encourage large families and to create incentives for work. This is the source of the programs popularly known as “workfare.” In contrast, policy makers have determined that the elderly, for example, are entitled to increased subsidies, and poverty among the elderly actually dropped, from 22.7 percent in 2008 to 20.1 percent in 2009.You seem to be alluding to family planning, to which haredi and Arab families are culturally and religiously opposed.The relationship between large families and poverty is rarely talked about. But it is also important to note that large families do not only suffer from poverty. The haredi community does not like to admit this, but many large families also suffer from violence, high school drop-out levels, health problems and many other problems that tax the public budget. Parents who insist on large families are dooming their children to poverty and great hardship. This is a very sensitive issue. The initiative for change must come from within the community, and we do see that women in the haredi community are beginning to see change.Some 12 percent of working families also live below the poverty line and 6,300 families in which there are two wage earners fell under the poverty line.
This is because of the low wages, which are due to a number of factors, including global competition and the low minimum wage. As long as the minimum wage remains low, and as long as the government does not step in, work will not be a guarantee against poverty.Yet the government has consistently refused to raise the minimum wage.Yes, unfortunately this is true. But at least the government has stepped in with a number of programs, including a negative income tax plan and work-supporting measures, such as benefits for working women.What should the balance be between the family’s responsibility and the state’s responsibility? There is a pendulum that swings back and forth with regard to this issue. Current thinking favors personal responsibility. But poverty can only eradicated by a combination of both personal and governmental-public responsibility.
According to recent reports, Israel also suffers from tremendous wage gaps, among the highest in the OECD.Our government is lucky that we are not seeing rioting in the streets. In any other country, there would be. These gaps are a moral and social outrage. They are an affront to Israel’s character.
The poverty report and the reports on wage gaps are released every year. What must be done in order for there to be a real improvement? Israel must establish a Combat Poverty Agency. Until that happens, nothing will really change.