Israel Faces Worsening Social Worker Shortages in Its Poorest Towns

Israel’s social spending remains far below that of most developed countries, while local authorities with the weakest populations are struggling most to hire social workers, according to the Taub Center’s annual state-of-the-nation report published by institute president Prof. Avi Weiss.

As of March 2026, 18% of municipal social work posts, about 1,300 positions, were vacant. The problem is sharper where poverty is highest: in municipalities where more than 25% of families live below the poverty line, 23% of posts are unfilled, compared with 19% in areas with medium poverty and 16% in low-poverty localities.

That staffing gap leaves social workers in the poorest municipalities handling 264 clients each, 44% more than workers in municipalities with medium or high poverty levels, where the average is 183 to 184 clients per social worker. The center said caseload size has a major effect on the quality of care and on professional burnout.

The report also found ethnic disparities. Vacancies average 17% in the strongest non-Haredi Jewish municipalities, 21% in Arab municipalities, and 26% in Bedouin municipalities, where needs are especially large.

On spending, Israel devoted 16.3% of GDP to social expenditure in 2023, well below the OECD average of 20.8% and far behind welfare leaders such as Finland at 30.9% and France at 30.6%. Israel ranked 30th out of 38 OECD countries, while the United States stood at 19%. In 2024, the government allocated 400 billion shekels for social issues, but most of the real-terms increase, about 38 billion shekels over 2023, came from war-related costs. Excluding those direct war expenses, the rise was only about 11 billion shekels, and per-capita social spending was unchanged from 2023.