More hareidi men are working than ever, and the employment rate for hareidi women is about the same as it is for the general population, a new report by the Central Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.
According to the report, in 2013 a full 56% of hareidi males aged 25-64 were working, a significant increase over the averages of between 40% and 50% that prevailed between 2002 and 2011.
The study also showed that Israeli workers were generally satisfied with their jobs, and enjoyed their work more than American workers as surveyed in research in the US.
Among hareidi women, the employment rate was 68% in 2013, roughly the same as for Israelis in general. Here, too, there was a significant increase over the numbers recorded in the decade previous, when about 50% of hareidi women were working.
Still underemployed are Arab women, of whom only a third were working in 2013. The government in recent years has begun numerous programs to encourage Arab women to work as a way of battling poverty among Arab citizens of Israel, even as some warn that numerous Arab terrorists have used their employment positions to plan attacks recently.
In general, about half of all Israelis – 48% – said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their jobs, the report said. The most satisfied people, as would be expected, were those working in challenging positions that gave them an opportunity to be creative; 85% of college professors were “very satisfied” with their work, as were 57% of teachers, 56% of secretaries, and 51% of CEOs. Less happy were drivers (20%), security guards (19%), and cleaning workers (15%).
Fifty-six percent were “satisfied” with their salaries – 10% of them “very satisfied” – while 56% said they had no concerns at all about being laid off or fired from their jobs. However, on a more negative note, 37% of working respondents said they had “difficulties” paying their bills, while 12% – about 400,000 workers – said they felt “poor” sometime in 2013.
In a 2013 Gallup poll, 70% of US workers said they “hated” or were “disengaged” from their jobs, while about 25% said they weren’t making enough to make ends meet.
