World News | Israeli Construction Industry 'urgently' Needs Workers, India Could Provide the Bulk of It
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Israel "urgently" needs hundreds of thousands of workers to continue with construction projects and the contractors have made a strong plea to the government to bring in labourers from abroad, including from India, to meet their needs.
Jerusalem, Nov 9 (PTI) Israel "urgently" needs hundreds of thousands of workers to continue with construction projects and the contractors have made a strong plea to the government to bring in labourers from abroad, including from India, to meet their needs.
"We urgently need more workers. In any case, the government is the one who will decide where the missing workers will come from", a spokesman of the Israeli Contractors Association told PTI.
Informed sources told PTI that the bulk of this gap could be fulfilled by bringing in workers from India.
"Israel's Minister of Economy, Nir Barkat, during his trip to India in April this year had spoken to officials and his counterpart in New Delhi about hiring Indians in various sectors, including in the construction sector", a source here said.
Also Read | India to Be Added to UK Safe States List, Ruling Out Asylum Rights for Illegal Migrants From the Country.
"The discussions revolved around bringing in almost like 160,000 people", the source said.
The Israeli construction industry employs foreign workers in specific fields where there is a lack of Israeli workers.
The largest group of about 80,000 workers in the construction industry come from the Palestinian Authority.
Another group of about 7,000 come from China and some 6,000 from Eastern Europe.
The ongoing war with Hamas militants in Gaza has also created a shortage of workers.
There are about 20,000 Indians working in Israel, mostly as caregivers. Most of them decided to stay back in Israel and did not leave the country during the war because "they felt quite secure" and "also because the salaries are quite attractive".
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)