More Yungeleit In Kollelim in Eretz Yisroel

The Israeli government authorized an additional $13.5 million to the 2017 yeshiva budget, raising it to an unprecedented $333 million and breaking a third such record since 2015. UTJ said this budget will remain the annual norm of the present government in accordance with coalition agreements. Despite the increase, many kollelim and yeshivos are in financial straits. Some yungeleit and staff have not been paid for months.

Haaretz noted that the number of yungeleit has increased since the chareidim joined the government two years ago and increase in chareidi employment has ground to a halt. According to Education Ministry figures, over 2015/16 the number of yungeleit increased by 15% to make a total of 75,000 yungeleit, double the growth rate of the chareidi population in this time. At the same time, the proportion of chareidi working women froze at 73% in 2016 and the employment of chareidi men rose by only half a percent to 51.7%.

Nonetheless, the percentage of working chareidim has grown since 2012, when the percentage of working chareidi men and women stood at 45.9% and 65% respectively.

This is a reverse from the days of the 2012/13 Lapid government, when the growth of yeshiva students and yungeleit reversed from a 4% yearly increase beforehand to a annual plunge of 8% during Lapid’s two years.

Under the new government, Torah funding has increased from $153 million in 2014 to $268 million in 2016 and $333 million this year. Income security payments for yungeleit and government funding for foreign yeshiva students have been restored, and yungeleit are now eligible for child daycare without having to prove that they made efforts to find work.

{Matzav.com Israel News}