Prof. Yaron Zelekha: "Are the Haredim a Burden on the Economy? Here Are the Data That Prove Otherwise"
Former Treasury's Chief Accountant Discusses: "Haredi women work just as much as non-Haredi women. Haredi men? The gap between them and secular men is 62,000. There aren't enough jobs for them, and even if there were, the impact would be less than one percent."
Prof. Yaron Zelekha (Photo: Tomer Neuberg, Flash 90)The former Chief Accountant of the Treasury, Prof. Yaron Zelekha, criticizes the slander many in the Israeli economy cast on the Haredi community, and outright dismisses the claims that Haredim are "ruining the economy." In a weekend interview for Ido Gevoni's podcast, he was asked if it is true that Haredim are Israel's Achilles heel, meaning a burden economically.
"It's not true," Zelekha answered. "The participation of the Haredim in the economy will help them; I want them to participate, not for us. But these are not the problems. Israel's economic issues are monopolies, exclusive importers, inefficient budgeting, money flowing through governmental companies instead of supervised and monitored international tenders - incorrect economic management. The distribution of tax burdens is distorted; it incentivizes big businesses at the expense of small ones when the small businesses are the growth engine. It drains entrepreneurs of their will to live. This has nothing to do with the Haredim.
"What are we told about the Haredim? Two things. First, that they don't work. Let's break this down: Haredi women work exactly like secular women. So when they say they don't work, they mean the men. It's not always said. It's always 'the Haredim.'
"Regarding men - how many Haredi men do you think don't work? What is the gap between the number of working Haredi men and the comparable number of non-Haredi men working? In quantity, 62,000. Let's round it to 70,000. Let's assume 70,000 Haredi men listen to this podcast and say they're coming to work. Where? Are there 70,000 vacant positions in the economy? No. Let's assume there were, and let's assume they go to work. What impact would they have on the GDP? The GDP is based on 4.5 million workers. If you add another 70,000, how much will it affect? Not even a few percent. One and a half percent. Even if there were 70,000 places, which there aren't, it's plausible that these are not average-wage jobs, but lower-wage jobs. At best, the impact is one percent."
