Israel saw a 1% increase in both male and female Haredi employment in 2020, following a 3% increase between 2016 and 2020, according to Labor and Welfare Ministry data obtained by Israel Hayom.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

According to the data, Haredi employees made up just 60.2% of the workforce. While this decreased to 59.7% in 2017, the rate later increased again to a record 63.5% in 2020.

Haredi employment rates usually differentiate between men and women as the latter are more likely to work. Only a moderate increase has been seen in employment levels among Haredi men.

The female Haredi employment rate has been constantly rising, reaching a high of 76% in 2017.

Among men, the employment rate reached a record 50% in 2016.

Shas MK Moshe Arbel has worked for years to incorporate Haredim into the Israeli workforce. He said, "Employers and employees understand that the entrance of Haredim into the workplace is a welcome phenomenon that goes hand in hand with their Haredi identity."

Arbel noted, "The Haredim who work want to be incorporated in the job market without giving up on their unique identity as Haredim in the state of Israel."

 Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories! 

The post Record 63.5% of Haredim join Israel's workforce in 2020 appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

According to the report, Israel is ranked 38 in terms of economic freedom among 162 countries and territories nationwide, a drop of one place since the last report was issued.

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The rankings gave Israel a score of 7.53 out of 10 for economic freedom, which was lower than the average score in OECD countries.

The nations that earned the top rankings for economic freedom were Hong Kong and Singapore, followed by New Zealand, Switzerland, the US, Ireland, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Mauritius.

The nations whose economic freedom was ranked lowest included Iraq, Egypt, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Libya, and Venezuela.

The rankings of the report were based on data from 2017 and evaluated five main categories: government size (public expenditure on government), the legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

For sound money, Israel scored 9.38. The more problematic areas were in government size, a category in which Israel was ranked 82^nd, with a score of 6.47. However, since 1980, Israel has steadily improved in that category since 1980, when the economy was almost entirely controlled by the government and Israel received a particularly low ranking of 2.33. In 2015, Israel was given a score of 6.31.

In the legal system and property rights category, Israel was scored 6.2.

For regulation, Israel was ranked 62^nd. Israel performed worst when it came to the labor market, where it was ranked 121 on the list.

Generally speaking, a high level of economic freedom benefits most citizens. In 2017, the per capita gross domestic product of the nations in the top quartile of the rankings stood at $36,700 per year – six times that of the countries in the bottom quartile of the rankings. Likewise, the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty, (defined as $1.90/day) in the countries with the most economic freedom was only 1.8%, compared to 27.2% in the countries with the least economic freedom.

Corinne Parenti, co-founder and director of the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, told Israel Hayom that "the next government needs to focus mainly on removing regulatory obstacles and reducing government intervention in the market."

The post Israel ranked 38th in the world for economic freedom appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.