Following Public Pressure New Improved Welfare-to-Work Program is Launched

August 7, 2007

Last week, the Israeli government officially launched the Orot Letaasuka (Employment Lights) welfare-to-work program, replacing the contentious Mehalev program, also known as the Wisconsin Plan.

Begun two years ago, the Mehalev pilot program involved more than 20,000 unemployed participants in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Hadera and Ashkelon. Wisconsin Watch, set up by NIF grantees Mehuyavut: Commitment to Peace and a Just Society and Community Advocacy – Genesis Israel, together with SHATIL, uncovered systematic abuse of program participants by the private companies who won the contracts to operate the program. Wisconsin Watch was in the forefront of the successful public campaign to scrap Mehalev.

"The new program is a clear improvement," Gili Rei, Director of Mehuyavut, told NIF News. "The old program was too rigid and made no allowances for the special needs of different population groups."

Wisconsin Watch activists assist unemployed participants
in the Mehalev welfare-to-work program.

The new program will have special tracks for new immigrants, academics, single mothers and those with disabilities. In addition, participants over 45 years old, representing a third of those taking part in the welfare-to-work program, will now be given exemptions and the Government Employment Bureau will work to find equitable solutions for them.

However, Rei stresses that Wisconsin Watch still has much work to do. "As far as we are concerned, some of the problems associated with the Wisconsin Plan still exist. The new program will still be operated by private companies who will profit if they can find a reason to kick people off benefits and deny them unemployment payments." Rei added, "We want more special tracks introduced for groups like Arab women."

Orot Letaasuka (Employment Lights) will continue for the next two years as a pilot project in the four cities in which Mehalev operated. "We will carry on monitoring the program to ensure that it truly is more flexible and fair," said Rei, "and that the private companies operating the program only profit by placing participants in jobs."