Concerned about a sharp drop in Soviet aliyah this month, the Israeli government appears to have finally come to grips with the fact that the biggest problem facing new immigrants is a lack of jobs.
The ministerial committee on immigrant absorption convened Sunday to discuss solutions to the employment crisis. Absorption Minister Yitzhak Peretz proposed that the panel devote every session for the next three months to the subject of jobs.
Peretz admitted that word of high unemployment in Israel is more to blame than new Soviet passport regulations for holding down aliyah to 5,700 so far this month.
Soviet immigration in July is not expected to exceed 8,000, compared to over 20,000 last month.
Peretz suggested that in the short run, the government provide work for olim while it presses the private sector to absorb as many workers as possible from the immigrant population.
Simcha Dinitz, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, warned the committee recently that Germany and other countries are increasing incentives to attract well-educated immigrants.
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