Tuesday July 6, 2021
I've Been Thinking:

Tensions are rising along one of the Israel’s perennial fault lines.

Subsidies to Hareidi families have been cut. Specifically, subsidies for childcare.
Minister of Finance Avigdor Lieberman has chosen to change the childcare entitlement program that has been in place as far back as memory goes.

The Lieberman plan now requires fathers to work or study in a non-religious educational accredited institution for at least 24 hours a week. None of the traditional Hareidi yeshivot are accredited.

The childcare credit amounts to between NIS 900 and NIS 1,300 per child. In total, around 130,000 families benefit from the subsidies every year. The Labor and Welfare Ministry spends some NIS 1.2 billion on these benefits, approximately a third of which traditionally went to Hareidi families.

Of the Hareidi population, 53% of working age men are employed as compared to 85% of working age men from the rest of the country.

Changing the eligibility criteria for the childcare subsidy will impact the economy.
The rationale behind the subsidy was always to put children in day care, thereby freeing up mothers/wives so that they could go to work. If not for subsidies, they would have to remain at home taking care of the children.

We will see what happens now. It’s way too early to tell.

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