A new study that was published on Wednesday revealed that more and more Charedi families in Israel are managing to balance their monthly bills. The study, which was conducted by the Charedi Center for the Study of Policy, revealed that a drastic decline has occurred in the number of Charedim who do not have enough money to cover their monthly expenses. The decline was listed as being more than 20 percent.

In 2011, more than 37 percent of Charedim were unable to cover their monthly expenses and were either piling up debt or using their savings to pay for the month. In 2017 that number has dropped to 30 percent.

While the number of Charedim who succeed at saving money each month has gone up by more than 50 percent, the total percentage of Charedi families who are able to save is still much lower than the general Israeli population.

The center has learned from these findings that more and more Charedi families in Israel are managing their finances in a responsible manner and are adjusting the level of their expenditures to the level of their income. This is especially interesting as according to reports from Bituach Leumi, more than half of the Charedim in Israel live below the poverty line. This means that not only have many of the Charedim figured out how to appropriately cut down their expenses, but they have also managed to live a life of self-denial.

This report has shed some light on the question of “who is a pauper?” Because if the household is able to support itself, and even put something aside for the next month, then seemingly it shouldn’t be listed as a household in crisis, even though it has a low-income budget.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)