The Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel said on Tuesday that the construction sector suffers from a shortage of 140,000 workers, amid a slowdown in the process of bringing in non-Palestinian foreign workers.
The economic newspaper “Globes” quoted the association as saying that even before the war on the Gaza Strip, there was a permanent shortage of 40,000 workers to meet the needs of the construction industry, and currently, with the absence of 100,000 Palestinian workers, the industry now actually lacks more than 140,000 workers.
Until last October 7, the construction sector in Israel relied heavily on the Palestinian workforce, with more than 100,000 workers. The number is divided into 75,000 Palestinians from the West Bank who hold permits to work in Israel, and 12,000 from the Gaza Strip, while about 15,000 other Palestinians were working without permits.
This represents about a third of the workforce in the entire sector, and with the outbreak of the war, the entry of Palestinian workers into Israel stopped completely, leading to an immediate deficit of 100,000 workers, according to the association.
The association added that – at present – 50% of construction sites in the country are closed, due to the severe shortage of manpower, and the active ones are operating at 30% of their capacity.
A recent survey – issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics – found that 41% of construction sites in Tel Aviv and the central regions, and 58% of sites in the Jerusalem area have been closed since the outbreak of the war.
As for foreign construction workers, before the war there were about 23,000 of them in Israel, most of them from Moldova and China, including 3,000 who left Israel with the outbreak of the war.
Construction sector losses
According to estimates by the Israeli Ministry of Finance, the construction sector is losing 2.4 billion shekels per week ($644 million), and since the current situation is expected to continue in the coming months, 3% of the annual GDP could be lost, according to what Globes reported.
Chairman of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, Yaakov Asher, said at the end of last October that the country needs an “air bridge for foreign workers” as soon as possible, and since then three government decisions have been formulated in the same direction, but nothing has been achieved on the ground. reality.
Contractors are demanding compensation from the state for delays in delivery, and it appears that the worker shortage will continue for a long period of time.
The damage is not limited to the direct cost of stopping work, as the average wage of a foreign worker is two to three times higher than the wage of a Palestinian worker, and this means that wage costs will be higher, and this is just one of the factors that may ultimately lead to a noticeable rise in prices. Residences. Delays in the delivery of new homes will soon become a real problem.
So far, no workers have been brought to Israel under the new bilateral agreements with India, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, and offers to bring them have not yet begun.
Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing, Yehuda Morgenstern, commented on this by saying that “bringing thousands of workers requires a great effort,” adding that the new workers may arrive in Israel in early February.
Since last October 7, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, causing the death of more than 24,000 Palestinians and wounding 61,000 others, most of them children and women, and causing the displacement of more than 85% of the Strip’s population (about 1.9 million people), in addition to destruction. big.