There is a 65% increase in the number of chareidim employed in Jerusalem’s high-tech industry over the past four years, representing 2,600 workers in 250 factories, which represent 64% of the factories in the capital.

According to Ron Tutnauer, who heads the Jerusalem District of the Israel Manufacturers Association in honor of Israel’s 60th anniversary. He added that the number represents an eight-fold increase in the number of chareidim over the past eight years.

Many of the chareidi workers are employed as software programmers, and they generally represent between 2% and 10% of a factory’s employees.

Some 240 industries in the capital do not employ chareidim at all and 160 employ up to 10% chareidim. A portion of the factories do have special food demands to accommodate the chareidi workers as well as a designated place for davening.

Tutnauer adds that in Jerusalem there are a number of bodies certifying chareidim in the technology field.

Nationwide, 20,000 workers who categorize themselves as chareidim are employed in high-tech, with 11,000 being women.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)