Participants
Joint Israel Tevet “תנופה בתעסוקה”:
Einat Masterman, Senior Program Manager
Nagham Abu Harfa, Director of Programs and Projects
Saeed Dhiabat, Projects Manager
Suzan Hassan, Executive Vice President
Arab Economic Forum:
Dr.. Sami Meyari, General Manager
Dr.. Maha Sabah-Karkabi – Research Director
Amit Levintal – Researcher
Myers-Joint-Brookdale Institute:
Smadar Somekh, Head of Operations Department
Oren Tirosh, research associate
Noam Keshet, research associate
special thanks
The team writing this document would like to thank the partners who agreed to be interviewed and who helped shape the insights presented in this document:
Ms. Salima Suleiman, Director of the Economic Development Department, Economic Development Authority at the Ministry of Social Equality.
Mr. Sami Lahiani, Head of the Economic Development Department, Economic Development Authority at the Ministry of Social Equality.
Mr. Yair Haruti, Director of the Strategic Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Village Development.
Mr. Ihsan Hanno, CEO of Al Fanar Company
Mr. Suleiman Al-Amor, Assistant Executive Director of AGIC, Negev Institute
Mr. Ihsan Hanno, CEO of Al Fanar Company
Ms. Khawla Rihani, Program Manager, Joint Israel, ALCA
summary
At the end of the year 2019, the Corona crisis occurred, an epidemic that spread rapidly and was classified as a pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization.
Since its beginning, this crisis has led to rapid and extreme changes in all aspects of life, in a unique and unprecedented way, and one of the central areas affected by the epidemic is the labor market: many workers went on unpaid leave, some were laid off, and many others moved to work from home.
The Corona crisis and the drastic changes it has caused in the labor market have affected diverse population groups in Israel differently. Despite the solidity and stability of the Israeli labor market before the crisis, the crisis has befallen Arab society while it is in bad conditions due to the existing gaps in many operational characteristics between it and the general population in Israel, not to mention the operational obstacles, both structural and individual, that Arab society has been facing for years. Some of which worsened during the crisis on top of that.
In this document, the characteristics of employment in the Arab society before the Corona crisis will be presented, and the operational obstacles it was facing, in addition to the changes that occurred in the operating conditions of the Arab society during the crisis, while addressing the fields of work and the characteristics of the workers who were affected. We will also discuss the potential effects of the crisis on operating conditions in Arab society after its end, the operational challenges resulting from the changes that occurred in the labor market during the crisis, and the opportunities that can and should be exploited in order to improve the operating conditions of Arab society in light of the crisis. We will finally make recommendations regarding possible courses of action.
