Israel’s construction industry is pressing the government to keep private recruitment of Indian and Sri Lankan workers open, warning that a labor shortage could delay new homes and drive up financing costs.
Several ministries are working to convene a committee of ministry directors-general to reconsider the planned halt and assess its effects, a report said Saturday. The initiative has drawn a positive response so far, the report said.
A halt set for the start of 2027
Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority announced on Oct. 5 that private recruitment of construction workers from India and Sri Lanka will stop at the beginning of 2027, citing international concerns over human trafficking in the two countries. Private recruitment remains allowed from a list of other countries, including Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
Contractors say setting up recruitment in a new country is a lengthy process, and warn the switch could interrupt the flow of workers the industry depends on.
What the industry wants
The Housing Ministry’s director general, Yehuda Morgenstern, put the current worker shortfall at 20,000 to 25,000 in a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, the report said. He asked for the private-sector quota for foreign workers to be raised by 20,000, for lower recruitment fees, and for a model in which the public and private sectors would cooperate to bring workers to Israel.
The Israel Builders Association asked the government to keep the existing channel open until a replacement system works. “A list of ‘approved countries’ does not guarantee the actual arrival of skilled workers,” the association’s director general, Igal Slovik, wrote to four ministries. The group proposed a hybrid model: licensed private agencies would recruit in India and Sri Lanka under government oversight, with approval from authorities in those countries.
Before the October 2023 attacks, Israel had about 130,000 construction workers, including around 80,000 Palestinians, 25,000 foreign workers, 14,000 Arab Israelis and 12,000 employed by foreign construction companies, according to the report.
JBizNews Desk | Jerusalem
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