New Program Encourages Job-Seekers to Look Further Afield

In an effort to encourage residents of peripheral areas seeking work to search further afield for jobs, the Employment Authority has begun offering cash bonuses to individuals who agree to work out of their immediate areas. The bonuses amount to NIS 600 a month, which candidates will get for a five-month period.

In a test program in several employment bureaus in northern Israel, the number of people who found work increased by over 4 percent.

While about a third of those who filed unemployment claims in those offices prior to the program’s commencement found work after a search, that figure rose to 37 percent when eligible candidates were enrolled in the program.

The program encompassed 2,169 candidates – although the outlay for the program reached close to NIS 5 million, it saved the state far more, the Authority said, adding that it generated NIS 2.2 in money saved and/or increased state income from taxes for each shekel spent.

As a result of the positive figures, Welfare Minister Chaim Katz, who is in charge of the Authority, said that the program would be expanded.