Modi'in Illit has been granted the status of an Employment
Advancement Town in a special Ministry of Industry, Trade and
Employment program to promote employment through the local
authorities. Organizers say Modi'in Illit meets the criteria
due to the heavy involvement by Council Head Rabbi Yaakov
Guterman in finding and creating sources of employment in the
city.
One of the main tools at the program's disposal is an
employment track based on the law for the encouragement of
capital investment. This track, to be funded by the
government at a total national cost of NIS 450 million over
three years, will allow the Ministry of Trade and Employment
to subsidize wages for enterprises set up in areas of
national priority, increase the number of employees or
transfer work sites from the Central Region to towns
considered socially and geographically peripheral.
Mrs. D. Novak, director of employment promotion and
development at the Trade and Employment Ministry, said the
program includes other chareidi local authorities as well,
but Modi'in Illit was the first choice due to the success of
the Call Center, which has been operating in the city for a
year-and-a-half.
Mrs. Novak said Modi'in Illit meets all of the criteria due
to the high unemployment rate and the Council Head's
extensive efforts to provide all assistance possible to
promote employment in the city. "We foresee a great success
for the program in Modi'in Illit as well as the continuation
of the Call Center program."
Since the program began one-and-a-half years ago, 250 women
are now employed at companies set up in the city, including
Citibook, Imagestore and Matrix.
Imagestore opened a worksite in Modi'in Illit last week at
the Illit Business Center in Brachfeld. Until then the
company, which provides scanning and document usage services,
had been transporting women from Modi'in Illit to the company
site in Petach Tikva. Imagestore currently employs 30 women
and needs 100 in the first phase.
Mrs. G. Koriansky, director of the Employment Services branch
in Modi'in, organized the worker recruiting drive. So far 30
of the 50 women hired are already on the job and Mrs.
Koriansky plans to call more women in for interviews. The
women undergo screening tests to determine suitability,
followed by tests of other parameters such as concentration,
accuracy and speed.
