The Aluma organization's findings paint a concerning portrait of employment instability, eroding confidence, and critical skill gaps affecting the emerging generation. When examining career outlook, merely 14% of respondents express certainty about their professional futures, with 42% maintaining cautious optimism and another 14% reporting persistent anxiety and stress. Arab youth demonstrate heightened concern, with 28% experiencing worry and pressure – approximately twice the overall average.

The ongoing wartime posture Israel has been in since Oct. 7, 2023 fundamentally disrupted employment patterns. Half of all working young people underwent career transitions during Operation Iron Swords, while 43% of university students experienced academic disruptions, including one-third who switched institutions or academic disciplines.

Employment concerns (52%), personal relationships, and economic independence represent the primary challenges facing today's youth. Nevertheless, 17% of survey participants acknowledge feeling entirely unprepared for their futures, contrasting with just 40% who express readiness.

Professional skill development presents significant obstacles. Only 40% of young respondents believe they can readily develop essential "soft skills" including communication abilities, adaptability, and innovative thinking. Some 43% foresee substantial difficulties, while 17% doubt their potential success. Technology-related competencies present even steeper challenges – just one-third feel confident about acquiring these capabilities, with 23% expressing complete pessimism about their prospects.

Military reservists experienced the most profound impact. Twenty-seven percent of surveyed youth or their spouses completed at least 60 days of reserve duty since October 2023, with 64% suffering significant life disruption, primarily affecting emotional well-being (32%), professional circumstances (31%), and financial stability (29%).

Dr. Tami Chalmish Eisenman, Aluma organization CEO, emphasizes that "Israel's rehabilitation hinges on young people feeling confident about their futures. Without immediate implementation of practical training programs and essential skill development initiatives, we face serious workforce deficits and intellectual emigration. This report represents an urgent call to action for our entire society."

The Aluma organization annually engages with approximately 60,000 young people nationwide, focusing on creating equitable opportunities, reducing inter-community disparities, and facilitating successful workforce integration.

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On Thursday, negotiations between the lab workers' union and the Treasury fell apart after the two sides failed to reach any understandings.

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While the strike is in effect, labs will provide emergency services only, and lab services will not be available at clinics.

Tests for hospital units (other than lifesaving tests in emergency departments, trauma centers, and intensive care units) will not be processed. Blood work and other tests carried out for non-urgent surgeries will also not be processed. Tests for urgent surgical procedures, women giving birth, and cancer patients will be processed as usual.

However, tests for newborn babies will not be processed, a decision expected to delay the process of releasing mothers and newborns from the hospital.

Labs will continue to process coronavirus tests, but will provide data on positive results only in order to help the authorities cut off outbreaks.

Officials in the Association of Biochemists, Microbiologists, and Laboratory Workers said in response to Health Ministry Director-General Professor Hezi Levy's comment that he hoped the strike would end on Sunday by saying that since Thursday, there had been a "total disconnect" between the workers and the Treasury, and that no additional meetings had been scheduled.

Long before the coronavirus epidemic began in Israel, the country's lab workers were demanding a new pay scale that would offer a starting wage of at least 50 shekels ($14.87) per hour. Currently, newly-hired lab workers with post-graduate degrees earn 31 shekels ($9.22) per hour. However, private labs operated by the My Rating company pay four times as much.

Lab workers are also demanding that the government increase the number of positions, in accordance with population growth and consumption of health care services.

Dr. Raul Kolodner, director of laboratory services at Emek Medical Center in Afula said, "Unfortunately, we have reached the point of declaring an open-ended strike. I would like to ask our partners to show empathy for the lab workers who are fighting for their basic rights, who have been rejected for years. We have no intention of harming patients, and we will do everything possible to avoid putting lives in danger, heaven forbid."

Esther Admon, chairwoman of the Association of Biochemists, Microbiologists, and Laboratory Workers, said, "The government is treating us with contempt and ignoring us, the lab workers, despite the heavy responsibility we have shouldered, and even though we are putting our lives in danger on a daily basis. Our working conditions and pay are some of the most pathetic in Israel. We're ashamed."

The Treasury issued a statement in response: "In recent weeks, there have been negotiations about the laboratory workers' demands. In intensive negotiations thus far, agreements about some of the issues being discussed have been reached.

"On other issues, generous offers were made, but rejected. We regret that despite the agreement signed with the lab workers and the significant raises we gave them for processing corona tests, the association is choosing the take advantage of the situation and go on strike at a time that is very sensitive, both in terms of economics and in terms of public health. We are willing to go back to the negotiating table at any time, and call on the Association of Biochemists, Microbiologists, and Laboratory Workers to join the fight."

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The survey, conducted during the coronavirus outbreak, reflects the ramifications of the crisis, and its results were dramatically different from the results of the same survey in the two preceding quarters.

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All respondents, which comprise a representative sample of Israeli employers, were asked the same question: "What changes do you expect to see in the total amount of employment in your area in the next three months, compared to the current quarter?"

Twenty percent of respondents said they expected a drop-off in recruitment, whereas 13% expected their workforce to increase.

Employers were also asked how the coronavirus crisis had affected their business activity in the past three months, and how long they expected the crisis to last. A total of 16% of employers said their business had come to a standstill, with another 13% reporting a drop of 80%-99%. Another 21% of employers reported that their business had declined by 50-80%, and 24% said they had seen a decrease of as much as 50%.

Only 1% of employers reported a rise in business during the corona crisis.

The sector that reported the biggest hit was, not surprisingly, restaurants and hotels, which saw their business drop by 68%. More than half (54%) of employers expected that their business would resume normal capacity in the next three months, whereas 8% said they did not know when they would return to full capacity, if at all.

Northern Israel saw the lowest rate of recruitment, with new hires down by 14%. Tel Aviv and southern Israel expect to see their recruitment drop by 13% and 11%, respectively. Jerusalem employers reported that they expected recruitment to decline by 3%, and Haifa employers expected recruitment to drop by only 1%. 

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The Israel Democracy Institute, citing official figures, said Monday that ultra-Orthodox male employment dropped from 51.7% in 2016 to 50.3% in 2017, halting a steady rise.

Gilad Malach, an institute researcher who specializes in the community, said the main cause was renewed subsidies to seminary students provided by a government that relies on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties.

For decades, the ultra-Orthodox have leveraged their significant political power into maintaining a segregated lifestyle. They run a separate network of schools, enjoy sweeping military draft exemptions and raise large families on taxpayer-funded handouts. But previous government programs and a push from within have led to increased integration.

Previous studies have recommended that Israel change its priorities by investing in infrastructure, strengthening the education system to promote its efforts on this issue.

In the 1980s, 63% of ultra-Orthodox Israeli men worked. According to the Haredi Institute for Public Affairs, which studies ultra-Orthodox society, the government will not achieve its 2020 target of getting the proportion of working men back to 63%, as the community is content with the status quo.

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