KEY POLICY DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT – ISRAEL 2023

The government of Israel allocated an elevated level of resources to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the crisis and the response to it had a major impact on the national deficit, GDP, the rate of unemployment, disparities in the education system, and other areas. [...] These are just a few examples: there is stability in the distribution of students over the four education systems; the gap in the resources allocated to education between the Arab and Jewish sectors is narrowing; the percentage of the Arab population receiving higher education has been rising steadily and there is a significant increase in the education level of teachers in Israel. [...] According to the Taub Centre’s 2023 report, the education budget has grown in the past twenty years at 1.6 times the rate of the growth in the number of students, and, in 2023, it accounted for 18 % of the national budget. [...] The departments in charge of employment policies are the Labour Branch of the Ministry of Economy and Industry and the Israeli Employment Service. [...] However, the employers’ association and some other sectors are calling for the education and training system to respond/adapt better to the dynamic nature of the world of work and provide people with the necessary skills and abilities.