The Israeli cabinet has approved a bill that would double the welfare grants to poor families with three or more children. The new allowances would cost the government some $24 million a year.
Aiming to get the measure into law by October, the government would grant 100 percent allowance hikes for the fourth child and additional children of impoverished families. Increases for the first three children would be on a more modest scale.
When the new minimum wage of nearly $100 a month goes into effect next Jan., a married man whose wife does not work will receive a higher income than his actual wage. Including children’s benefits, a minimum income for a father of five will be $147 a month, about $30 of this derived from the new child allowance provision.
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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.
