53% of Arab families are at risk of poverty, according to a report published today by the Central Bureau of Statistics on the gap between Jewish and Arab families in Israel. The risk of poverty among Jewish families is only 18%. Less than 10% of the Jewish population is registered with social services, compared to 16% of Arabs.
The biggest gap is in employment: while 64% of working-age Jewish men are employed, among Arab men it is only 50%. The situation is even more extreme among women: the percentage of Jewish women who work is 62%, while among Arab women the percentage is less than a third, at 28%. The gaps are not only in the employment rate, but also in the employment sectors. Arabs are prominent in commerce, vehicle servicing, construction and health, and Jews are prominent in administration, security, financial services and communications – including technology.
Household net income is 51% higher for Jewish households than for Arab households, but since Arab families tend to be larger, the gap in per capita net income is even larger, at 89%. The gap is also reflected in subjective sentiment: while 70% of Jews feel satisfied with their economic situation, only 51% of Arabs are.
One way out of poverty and toward greater social mobility is to obtain an academic degree, and many young Arabs are trying to go in that direction. According to figures from the Council for Higher Education in Israel, the number of Arab students has doubled in the past decade, but the gap in the number of graduates is still huge. More than a third of Israeli Jews hold an academic degree (36%), but only 16% of Israeli Arabs.
The percentage of home ownership is higher in the Arab community than among the Jews. 63% of the Jews and 73% of the Arabs are the owners of the occupation. Most Arab-owned homes are located in Arab towns and villages, and are worth only 1.1 million shekels on average, while Jewish-owned homes average 2.3 million shekels. It should be noted that more than a quarter of the Arab population lives in mixed settlements such as Jerusalem, Acre, Nof Hagalil, Ramleh and Lod.
The killing spree in the Arab Israeli community, which has killed more than 103 people so far this year, highlights the issue of personal security. Only 7.5% of Jews fear a violent attack in their neighbourhoods, while the percentage for Arabs is close to 20%. Interestingly, while women in the Jewish community fear violence more than men, it is men in the Arab population who fear violence against them the most.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 19, 2023.
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