The Jewish Agency’s MASA program says that it is seeing increased interest in its post college long-term Israel study programs as a result of the shrinking job market.
From the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle:
In these tough economic times, when jobs are scarce, especially for recent college graduates, many young Jewish adults are finding an inspired solution to their financial woes: spend some time in Israel.
Since 2003, MASA, Israel Journey, an organization established by the government of Israel and the Jewish Agency for Israel, has been enabling young people, ages 18 to 30, to spend up to a year in Israel on any one of over 160 different programs.
As the North American economies continue to shed thousands of jobs, and with the U.S. unemployment rate topping 8 percent, MASA has seen the number of participants in its post-graduate programs triple in the past year.
In response to the new demand, MASA began its Better Stimulus Plan about a month ago. According to Ayelet Margolin, director of marketing for MASA, the multimedia marketing campaign is targeted to Jewish young adults across North America and is designed to spread awareness of career development, volunteer and academic opportunities in Israel.
