Israel’s State Comptroller says the welfare system has failed to staff the growing number of social work positions in local authorities, even as social distress has increased after successive wars. The report, published today, found that the share of unfilled posts in municipal welfare departments rose from 13% in 2022 to 16% by mid-2025, equal to 1,155 vacant positions. In 2023, welfare departments served 1.18 million people, about 12% of Israel’s population.
Although the number of social work posts grew 15% between 2022 and 2025, from 6,192 to 7,094, local authorities could not fill them. In Kiryat Motzkin, more than a third of the positions are vacant. Across the authorities examined, social workers faced extreme caseloads of more than 50 files each. The heaviest burdens were recorded in Migdal HaEmek, where 87% of social workers reported overload and the maximum caseload reached 335 files, followed by Kiryat Motzkin with 283, Modi'in with 236, and Rosh Pina with 230.
The survey also found that about a third of respondents said they had not been paid for overtime, and most said that since the war began they had often or very often worked without extra compensation. Fifty-four percent said they experienced significant or very significant burnout because of the war. The report links the staffing crisis to retention problems, noting that 40.4% of social workers employed in ministry-funded welfare posts left between 2015 and 2022. In Modi'in, eight of 47 social workers left in 2024-2025, and officials struggled to find replacements.
Workers told the comptroller that local authorities do not offer fair conditions and cannot compete with private work. One said, "The authority is not willing to give fair conditions. Workers leave for freelance, for the private sector. We cannot compete." Another said workers often quit after a month because wages are too low, while a third said family and couples therapy coordinators do not stay because they can earn a month’s salary in half a week in private practice. The report also says the ministry’s allocation formula does not reflect actual need or workload, and that poorer authorities are short of posts because they must provide 25% matching funding, which they struggle to afford.
The same comptroller report also says funding for youth movements has been cut in relative terms. The Education Ministry’s support fell from 0.21% of its budget in 2020 to 0.15% in 2024, even though the number of participants rose 41% from an estimated 250,000 in 2015 to about 353,000 in 2024. As a result, per-child funding has shrunk by more than a third, and much of the money arrives only near the end of the year. In 79% of local authorities, youth movements also lack adequate buildings for their branches.
