Jewish unemployment in this country is a growing problem despite an improved economy. An estimated 13-15 percent of the total Jewish population is economically disadvantaged and vulnerable. Those most vulnerable are workers over the age of 40 and working women in all age brackets.
These are some of the findings in a study the American Jewish Committee submitted to representatives of the House Subcommittee on Public Assistance and Unemployment Compensation Committee on Ways and Means. The representatives met with Jewish communal leaders during the 52nd General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations to discuss the effects of federal budget cuts and unemployment on Jews and Jewish agencies.
The AJCommittee study, “Jews on the Edge,” presented a grim litany on the growing problem of Jewish unemployment and the plight of the Jewish poor. One of the consequences of the current economic situation, it reported, is the changing economic structure of American Jewry.
That structure, which in the past was characterized by a preponderance of white collar and professional workers, is turning around because many in the public and private sectors of the economy are now unemployed or underemployed. This is leading to a downward mobility.
IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTINUITY AND STABILITY
The study also stated that there is ongoing concern about the implications of growing Jewish joblessness for Jewish continuity and stability. “For one thing, economic disadvantage often leads to alienation or disconnection from the Jewish community,” it noted. “Reports from around the country suggest that memberships are down in synagogues and communal institutions.”
It cited a statement by Rabbi Ernst Conrad of Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, Michigan, that it is young families of professionals, educators or business people who are most affected. Another implication of growing unemployment or underemployment is the effect it is having on growing numbers of educated young Jews. Albert Ascher, the executive director of the Jewish Vocational Service and Community Workshop of Detroit, characterizes this group as “a new generation of downwardly mobile Jewish youth who now doubt that their level of occupational achievement will equal to their parents.”
DATA ON DISADVANTAGED AND VULNERABLE JEWS
A St. Louis demographic study done in 1981, when the jobless rate was about three percent of the Jewish population, revealed that 58 percent of the unemployed were male; 59 percent were under 35; 74 percent were in the $25,000 income bracket; 64 percent were married; 62 percent were white collar, 15 percent were in sales; and 56 percent did not belong to a synagogue. “These data were corroborated by data collected in 1983 from the St. Louis Employment and Vocational Services,” the AJCommittee study added.
According to a report from the Atlanta Jewish Vocational Service, cited in the study, 33 percent of the Jews who requested employment help were women under age 29. “These data illustrate the special vulnerability of Jewish women who tend to have less education and less occupational mobility than Jewish men,” the study said. “The St. Louis demographic study revealed a similar pattern.”
Similarly, a recently conducted Chicago Metropolitan Jewish Population Study revealed “that there are 37,000 economically disadvantaged and vulnerable Jews in our community, which is about 15 percent of our estimated Jewish population of 248,000. These individuals are represented in 19,000 households (18 percent of all Jewish households) composed largely of the elderly and young families,” the AJCommittee study reported.
The Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services of New York City also found that “middle to lower class families, who up till now have been able to sustain themselves financially, are beginning to fall through the safety net, creating a new group of poor in the communities.”
The AJCommittee study noted that the report on New York City pointed out that following cuts in public aid programs, one-third of all Jewish households receiving public benefits lost all or part of such benefits and, in 11 percent of the Jewish households involved, jobs had been lost or working hours reduced.
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO UNEMPLOYMENT
Dr. Ephrain Royfe, executive director of the Philadelphia Jewish Employment and Vocational Services, was quoted as saying that factors contributing to the current levels of Jewish unemployment include cuts in governmental spending which have eliminated social work and other service positions; the decrease in teaching and university positions resulting from decreased population and student enrollment; the drastic increases in the number of small business failures; and the lack of opportunity for Jewish college graduates with degrees in liberal arts.
“Each new reality involves an area to which Jews have traditionally been drawn,” the AJCommittee study said. It referred to Royfe who cited “a loss of 150,000 manufacturing jobs in the Philadelphia area in the last decade” which has led to a decrease in the number of engineers, sales and marketing personnel, attorneys, accountants and others who support a manufacturing base.
PLIGHT OF ELDERLY JEWS
Another area of ongoing concern related to the Jewish elderly affected by the recession. The AJCommittee study reported that the Jewish community in the U.S. “is aging far more rapidly than the general population.” Age in itself does not denote a dependent population, the study said.
“A number of factors interact to make the elderly among the most vulnerable populations. These factors are low income, disability, unemployment and underemployment, and the lack of access to services. The problems often reinforce one another, resulting in greater permanent dependency,” the study noted.
It reported that 48 percent of the poor in Chicago are 65 years of age. Reports from Miami, St. Louis and Seattle showed that a large proportion of the older households have very low incomes. For example, over 17 percent of the households over 65 had household incomes of under $5,000, and another 43 percent had incomes between $5,000 and $15,000.
“As budgets are more constrained, the ability of the elderly to participate in Jewish life are limited,” the AJCommittee report said. “They must either drop synagogue memberships, or receive subsidies. As individuals move from active supportive roles, they are sometimes reluctant to become the recipients of ‘religious welfare’. ” Many individuals choose rather to drop participation than to make the transition from giver to taker.”
GROWING NUMBER OF MIDDLE CLASS CLIENTS
During the Congressional subcommittee hearing at the General Assembly, representatives from Jewish agencies also reported on the growing numbers on waiting lists for help. Diana Silverman of Atlanta reported that 350 clients are seen weekly by Jewish Family Services.
John Greenberg, president of the National Association of Jewish Vocational Services, described a “disturbing increase” of middle class clients. He noted that because the middle class is unfamiliar with public assistance programs, the economic and social stability of that group is at risk.
Mark Talisman, executive director of the CJF’s Washington Action Office, who serves on a national board administering $100 million in public funds for emergency shelter and food, urged the Congressmen present at the hearing to call for a national conference on finding permanent solutions. He declared:
“Terrible choices are being made about who is going to eat and who isn’t, while we are getting reports of the rotting of surplus food. This is not what America is all about.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
