On December 04, The Aaron Institute for Economic Policy at Reichman University, in partnership with Yad Hanadiv, convened the first conference of the Institute on quality employment and equal opportunities for young adults from Arab society. The conference aimed to showcase and further develop high-level coordination between the various entities that young adults from Arab society will encounter on their path as they reach the age of employment. These include the school system, municipal governments, government ministries responsible for implementing the GR-550 plan (Heb. Takadum), the vocational training department of the Labor Ministry, the Council for Higher Education and numerous civil society organizations.
Each of the three conference sessions opened with a macro-level presentation followed by a response from a representative of the Finance Ministry’s Budgets Department. The representatives from the Budgets Department repeatedly emphasized the central importance of Arab citizen participation in the workforce and upward social mobility for the future of Israel’s economy and prosperity.
The opening session focused on holistic strategies to empower young people throughout their journey, from high school students and gap year participants to higher education or vocational training students, to job seekers and workers. Oren Ziv, a representative from the Council for Higher Education, noted that the majority of growth in Israel’s higher education system in recent years has come from Arab students. Gal Yaakobi from the Labor Ministry explained the work of the Riyan Employment Guidance Centers, which have helped 18,000 Arab young people find work each year, 60% of whom are women.
The next session featured Hassan Towafra, Head of the Authority for Economic Development of Arab Society, presenting achievements in implementing the 550 Five-Year Plan, with a particular focus on young adults. One especially noteworthy achievement was reaching the 2026 target for Arab women’s employment in 2024 (46.3%). However, the Jewish women’s employment rate in Israel, at 82.8%, highlights the significant gap that still needs to be addressed.
The third session featured Prof. Zvi Eckstein, director of the Aaron Institute, who presented key challenges in policy planning for the coming decade. Among the challenges he highlighted were the severe shortage of new apartments—Arab society saw 50,000 more new households than new apartments—and issues related to financial inclusion, such as access to credit and banking services. Additionally, he emphasized the need to raise employment levels in Arab municipalities to match those of Arab citizens living in mixed cities. Notably, he pointed out that in mixed cities, employment rates for Arab and Jewish women are equal, and the unemployment rates for Arab young men are nearly on par with those of Jewish young men, due to better Hebrew language skills, improved transportation, and greater access to workplaces.
See the broadcast of the conference here (Hebrew).
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