Nearly 20 Percent of Israelis Live Under Poverty Line

NEWS DESK | A new study in Israel has found that while parts of the economy are booming, an increasing section of Israeli society is being left behind. Our Ariel Levin-Waldman and Alec Pollard have the story.

Story:

More than 1.7 million Israelis live in poverty. Those were the numbers a study by the National Insurance Institute found — more than 21 percent of the population.

'We're talking about a fifth of the population below the poverty line. More worrying is that perhaps one in three children grows up in a poor household,' Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel researcher John Gal says.

The worst poverty hit the elderly and unemployed. Other struggling groups skew the data. Israel's ultra-Orthodox Haredi and Israeli Arabs have some of the lowest recorded employment rates, often by choice or by undeclared income.

'Basic demographic issues — we have large families, and in many of them only a single earner. This is particularly the cause in the haredi ultra orthodox population where a large proportion of men do not work,' Gal says.

The numbers suggest Israel has the highest per-capita poverty rate in the developed world. But It's a relative measurement: Israel considers poverty to be one-half of the median income, which is about $2700 a month. If national income goes up, so does the poverty line.

Last year, wages rose almost five percent across the working class, reducing the divide between top and bottom earners, but increasing relative poverty.

More than half of Israelis are now considered middle class — a full 10 percent increase over last year, but analysts say there is still room for improvement:

'This means of course making wages higher but also introducing or strengthening what we have which is a negative income tax and making sure we can increase the income of those whose wages are very low,' Gal explains.

Israel's government touts economic achievements, including a per capita GDP of $40,000 — number 20 in the whole world, but these numbers show that significant numbers of Israelis are still slipping through the cracks.

For more, see our ⬇

Website
Articles: https://www.i24news.tv/en
Live: https://video.i24news.tv/page/live?clip=5a94117623eec6000c557fec (Subscription)
Replay: https://video.i24news.tv/page/5a97b81f23eec6000c55857d?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the_rundown&utm_content=en2 (Subscription)

Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/i24newsEN/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i24news/

Видео Nearly 20 Percent of Israelis Live Under Poverty Line канала i24NEWS English