A special report by Israel’s Employment Service says the same workers are repeatedly pushed back into unemployment during every emergency, a pattern it calls the “revolving door” effect. The study examined labor market trends across a series of crises over the past six years, including the COVID-19 period, the war in Gaza, and Operation “Am Kalavi” and “Shagat Haari.” It also says remote work has become the main protective factor against job loss, and it urges the government to rethink the current unpaid leave, or halat, model.
The most striking findings involve women and workers in vulnerable service jobs. Among women who left the workforce during “Shagat Haari,” 71.3% had already been displaced at least once in another emergency over the past six years, and half had been out of work three times or more. In March, the number of female job seekers rose 173%, compared with 131% among men. The report says 78% of personal care workers and 75% of sales workers who registered as job seekers during the operation had already been harmed in a previous emergency.
Joblessness also surged sharply in occupations tied to direct service. The number of job seekers among personal service workers, including waiters and bartenders, jumped about 661% from the period before the operation. Large increases were also recorded among child caregivers and assistants, clerks and typists, and sports and fitness workers.
At the same time, the report says the Israeli labor market has been recovering faster after each crisis. After COVID-19, it took about two years to return to pre-crisis job-seeker levels, about a year after the war in Gaza, roughly four months after “Am Kalavi,” and just two months after “Shagat Haari.” In two months, the number of job seekers fell about 54%, or around 216,000 people, from a peak of about 395,600 to about 180,000 at the end of May, close to the pre-operation baseline of about 155,000.
The Employment Service says remote and hybrid work now functions as a kind of “employment vaccine,” especially in IT, while jobs that depend on public contact, crowding, or field work remain the most exposed. It warns that repeated layoffs damage pensions, seniority, social rights, and long-term job security. Director General Inbal Mashash said the findings show a worrying “revolving door” and argued that Israel should consider flexible halat, partial work with state income support, halat shared between spouses, and expanded remote work as a permanent crisis tool.
