(Jointmedia News Service) Judy Lash Balint - The new one-stop employment center in the Israeli Arab town of Tira in central Israel seeks to help reduce unemployment and under-employment among Israeli Arabs. "While Arabs constitute 20% of the population, they only account for 8% of the Gross National Product," notes Ibrahim Habib, director of regional development for the Authority for Economic Development in the Arab Sector. "The government estimates the loss from these people being absent from the workforce at around 31 billion shekels every year." There's a particular emphasis on providing opportunities for Arab women to enter the work force, since traditional opposition to Arab women working outside the home is dissipating. One program identifies 500 promising Arab female high school students and provides them with counseling and tutoring to encourage them to go on to higher education. In 2001, only 5% of Arab women were college graduates. In 2010 that number had risen to 12%.
2012-06-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive