Labor Day Celebrates Employment in Israel

Labor Day was established as an acknowledgement of the dedication and success of the working person after a very difficult time in US history where workers’ health, safety and livelihood were ignored for the explicit benefit of industry owners and profiteers. Celebrating Labor Day in the US acknowledges the determination of the working class to be recognized as an enormous, economic asset deserving and entitled to recognition and humane benefits that support our collective labor force.

Today, we face a harrowing challenge. COVID-19 has destroyed lives in innumerable ways; one significant is the thousands who have lost their jobs and are seeking new ways to invent themselves in a virtual economy or new and various skills to prepare themselves as our world rights itself. Acquiring new skills to meet this challenge requires determination, networking and partnership.

Employability benefits our global market and the JNF Lauder Employment Center (LEC) is at the forefront of ensuring our Israeli friends and colleagues are well positioned to assume employment through their training and educational programs that offer skill building in significant demand fields like agriculture, industry, construction, and technology as well as internships that pave the way for permanent employment.

The JNF Lauder Employment Center in the Negev has already achieved success:

• 90% of LEC Interns receive a full-time job offer from their place of internship
• 85% are still living and working in the Negev
• The LEC has helped place over 1700 young adults in high-quality jobs in the Negev
• The LEC has connected over 600 Negev employers together through its services offered
• Over 80 companies take part in the LEC collaborative HR Forum, helping to strengthen the job marketing and recruiting opportunities in the Negev

Replicating this success with the JNF Lauder Employment Center in the North is the natural next step in fostering opportunities of employability and spreading Israel’s population across its country – this, in turn, benefits the rest of the world, including the US, with Israeli know-how.

Globally, Israel stands out as one of the chief contributors in every viable domain (medical diagnostics and treatment, high technology application in security and navigation, a desert-friendly irrigation system, potable water, harmless pest control) and more importantly, these discoveries and innovations have been shared and integrated for the benefit of other countries.

This past weekend marked Labor Day in the US and, in acknowledging our US workforce, it is important not to forget that although the underpinnings of our Labor Day stemmed from inequity and inhumane working conditions, COVID-19 has created undue hardships on so many. We, too, have benefitted from Israeli ingenuity and perhaps this Labor Day, we can offer our US strength in supporting the continuation of employability for our Affiliates and friends in Israel, knowing that a dollar raised for the LEC, is easily doubled when we consider the advancement and benefit Israel has offered us and the rest of the world.

Happy Labor Day 2020 and may 2021 bring new and renewed efforts to developing the LEC in the North.

For more information on the JNF Lauder Employment Center, please contact Sharon Joy, National Campaign Director, at sjoy@jnf.org or 323.964.1400 x810. 
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