The Miftach organization which seeks to develop employment for the chareidi sector, a quasi governmental agency working with the government and JOINT (JDC-Israel) reports a study indicates 93% of non-frum employers who hired chareidim state they would recommend their colleagues do the same.

The organization’s report states that 57.5% of employers seeking to hire from Miftach did so, hiring at least one worker.

87.9% of the chareidim affiliated with the program sent for a job in response to a request were women and only 23% men.

67.7% of the establishments that hired chareidim were owned/run by chareidim.

59.7% of those hiring represented small businesses with 25 or less workers. 70.8% were included in one of the following four categories; health, welfare and nursing care (23.6%); education (20%); retail and wholesale marketing (14.5%) and business services (12.7%). 

35% of non-chareidi employers that hired chareidim spoke of “special qualities” among chareidi workers. 18.3% in the same category spoke of special difficulties in hiring chareidim.

45.8% of businesses that do not employ chareidim agree with those who feel chareidim cannot be in the workplace due to the lack of separation between men and women. The figures cited are from Report 3 from the Ministry of Industry & Trade based on the Miftach Program.

The report also cites that some businesses not run by owned by non-chareidim made an effort to accommodate chareidim, with 21.3% separating between men and women and 9.8% having a glatt kosher cafeteria or lunchroom. 50% of the employers who hired woman exhibit flexibility regarding work hours to accommodate the daycare needs.

41% take care to ensure modest dress among all employees; 32.8% provide time for davening; and 24.6% have designated a special area for davening. 30.5 of the employers of men accommodate flexible work hours to accommodate learning schedules.

93% of non-chareidi owned businesses state they would recommend to colleagues to hire chareidi workers as well.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)