'Decrease in poverty levels still not enough'

from Y Net News

Officials from various social aid organizations say estimated positive figures in new poverty report insignificant. 'Even if there's a slight drop in poverty, there are still over 1.5 million poor living in Israel, half of whom are children,' says Latet director

Yael Branovsky

A new poverty report studying the year 2006 is scheduled to be published Tuesday by Israel's National Insurance Institute (NII). Despite the fact that the previous report showed the increase of poverty had been blocked – estimates indicate that no significant changes will be evident in the updated report.

Over 1.5 Israeli citizens live below the poverty line – half of them are children. Though the market has shown considerable growth and given rise to employment figures. But many of those who have joined the work force fail to break the cycle of poverty as they only earn minimum wage or work part-time jobs.

Even if the current report shows stability or improvement, primarily among the indigent elderly, the situation for most people has not changed.

According to the report released in January of this year for 2005 and the first half of 2006 – the number of Israelis living below the poverty line stands at 1,630,000 million. The number of poor families was 404,000 - in 174.6 of those families the head of the family was employed.

The poverty line is defined as 50% of the median net income and is adjusted to family size.

The report also showed that over 35 percent of children in Israel were living in poverty.

An NII source said the poverty rate was relatively stable. The increase in poverty amongst children and families has halted, and poverty among elderly citizens continues to fall, due to an increase in supplementary income payments.

Fomer NII director: 'No improvement in sight'

Former NII Director-General Yochanan Shtesman told Ynet on Monday that he does not foresee any significant improvement in the Tuesday's figures. "The poverty situation in Israel is very serious," said Shtesman, "cutting back on stipends for example – there is not question that that contributed to the rise in poverty and the declining situation of indigent families.

"Those same cuts only benefit the top percentile. And the fact that the stipends are not linked to the average salary in the market - that certainly doesn't make things better."

Gili Rei, director of Mehuyavut - Commitment for Peace and Social Justice, said that every year sees more and more people join the ranks of the 'working poor.'

"All those people in the poverty report have no access to education or proper medical care and the gaps are only getting wider… We should stop glorifying the growth, which only widens the gaps between the rich and the poor and concentrate instead on closing those gaps," said Rei.

"Even if there's a slight drop in the poverty levels, there are still over 1.5 million poor living in Israel, half of whom are children," said Eran Weintraub, director of the Latet organization.

"The figures don't matter, the reality is that a week before the holidays, and in the day-to-day as well, the only ones caring for families in need who are fighting a constant battle for survival are the non-governmental aid organizations."