by Karen Setton
JERUSALEM, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- One in five Israelis live in poverty, according to a report released by Israel's National Insurance Institute on Wednesday.
The annual report showed that 1.92 million Israelis, or 21 percent of the population, were regarded as poor in 2020, a slight decrease from 21.6 percent the previous year.
The report defined as poor any person in Israel earning fewer than about 900 U.S. dollars per month, which in 2020 was less than half of the country's median income.
Among countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Israel has one of the highest poverty rates. Only six countries, including Romania, Bulgaria and the United States, register a higher poverty rate than Israel.
Many of the Israelis in poverty are Ultra-Orthodox Jews or Arabs, two substantial minorities in the country.
Both populations have relatively large families, often with over five children and only one breadwinner. With the average cost of living in Israel higher than most OECD countries, it is difficult for many to make ends meet.
"These populations are characterized by relatively low income. Normally they are at lower levels within the low tech labor market, so their incomes are low," said John Gal, chair of the Welfare Policy Program at the Taub Center and professor at the School for Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
It is worth noting that Israel's poverty issues are not new and its poverty rate has remained relatively stable in recent decades.
"Our policies don't really deal very adequately with poverty. We spend less on social welfare than most other welfare states and the benefits and the assistance that these people are getting is not enough to push them above the poverty line," Gal told Xinhua.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout also had an impact on the poverty rates in the country, said the report.
Gal anticipates a deterioration in the coming year because of the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. Some of the global ramifications of the crisis are out of government control and the crisis is not over yet, he said, adding there have been calls to continue government assistance to those in need.
"I think what has happened over the last two years with the pandemic is that the issue of poverty has been pushed aside and we've been dealing with other issues, like the labor market, health issues and education, so I think at the moment poverty is not really on the agenda, which means we may have a rise in poverty because of the pandemic aftermath," the Israeli expert explained.
Gal calls for an increase of tax credits for the people in need and equipping them with more skills so that they can get higher paying jobs in the labor market. Enditem
