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National Civic Service for Disadvantaged Populations – Benefit Outweighs Cost By Hundreds of Percent
The State of Israel’s Return on Investment in National Civic Service for disadvantaged populations – up to NIS. 0.5 million per volunteer
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A comprehensive study conducted by Adalya Consulting examined National Civic Service for national cost effectiveness. Findings show that an average investment of NIS. 43 thousand per Israeli volunteer can save between NIS. 200-500 thousand in costs over the course of the volunteer’s lifetime.
National Civic Service
National Civic Service has operated in Israel since the early 1970s but was chiefly limited to young Zionistic women exempted from military service on religious grounds. In the mid 1990s, public pressure was exerted on National Civic Service to included volunteers from additional populations exempted from military service for additional reasons. In 2007, the government finally adopted the Ivri Commission recommendations to open National Civic Service to the ultra-Orthodox, Arabs, and other youth exempted due to unsuitability.
Currently, half of Israel’s youth in every school leaver’s year are not recruited to the IDF, including youth from disadvantaged populations such as youth with impairments, youth at risk, young female immigrants (chiefly of Ethiopian origin) who also find themselves excluded from National Civic Service, and Arab youth. Only a fraction of them are entitled to volunteer in National Civic Service because the government does not allocate sufficient slots to disadvantaged populations.
In 2011, the number of National Civic Service slots stood at 14,235. Of these, only 16% (2770 slots) were designated for youth from disadvantaged populations: 1550 for Arabs, 350 for youth with impairments, 250 for youth at risk, and 120 for young female immigrants.
The benefits of National Civic Service for disadvantaged populations
Research in Israel and internationally shows that volunteering is a highly significant tool in personal development, and the acquisition of abilities to uphold economic and social mobility. The starting point in the life of a young adult who has been excluded from the right to serve in one of the two frameworks – IDF or National Civic Service – is significantly poorer. The benefits gained by the National Civic Service volunteer are huge, and include empowerment, reinforced self-confidence, a sense of equality, acquired employment experience, skills and knowhow.
The derivative gains made by the State of Israel from increasing the number of slots for volunteers from disadvantaged populations in the National Civic Service framework also increases incrementally. The short term benefit is in the volunteer’s productivity during service. The long term gain is mainly in increased participation by service graduates in the workforce, and a decrease in numbers joining the cycle of unemployment.
Increasing the number of slots for volunteers from disadvantaged populations allows many youth to gain equal opportunity; the right to volunteer also advances them personally. The overall outcome is beneficial to both the volunteer and the State of Israel.
The Economic Study
The economic study examines the sum of all costs to the State pertaining to the volunteer. It contrasted these to the sum of benefits gained by the State per volunteer over the course of a volunteer’s life. The objective was to establish whether there is tangible quantifiable economic incentive to increase the number of National Civic Service slots beyond the numerous social and societal benefits.
Cost of service
The State allocates NIS. 28-35 thousand per volunteer. The basic slot includes living allowance, travel, coordinators (1 per some 60 volunteers) and insurance.
The Forum’s social organization members believe it is vital to provide an additional enrichment package for youth from disadvantaged populations, and has therefore recruited funding of some NIS. 11-12 thousand per volunteer from the third sector to enhance and complement government support. The enrichment package includes training in various fields of volunteerism, empowering backup, and preparation for entry into employment and/or higher education.
These are not fixed costs but differ according to the type of population and type of slot (at-home or external). As such, the figure quoted represents the scope of budgeting costs. In addition, the overall cost (loss) to the economy during the service period was also included and the impact of excess taxation on the outcome (under stringent assumptions that every service slot is funded through budgetary expansion, ie: taxation). The total cost ultimately received is weighted economic cost, in terms of impact on GDP.
Benefits of Service
The benefit includes the sum of all benefits derived from the following weighted components:
· Direct benefit of the volunteer’s service. The theoretical salary that would be paid to the volunteer during the service period, had the same activities been undertaken for pay.
· Savings in employment surety payments during service. The scope of payments made to the individual, had she or he not been volunteering during the service period.
· Additional earnings during the course of the individual’s working life. a quantification of the main benefit of service, by quantifying the present value of additional income from employment during a working life span.
The chart below elates to each population and the expectable benefit for each National Civic Service slot. For example, for each young Arab woman completing a year of volunteer service, the State’s profit is some NIS.0.5 million net over the course of the young woman’s life:
* The benefit shown in the graph is net, i.e.: after deduction of costs for the single slot.
Conclusions of the study
· National Civic Service shows positive, significant and substantial economic value to the national economy, for each of the studied populations already in the short term and for all in the long term.
· The surplus economic value is not obtained from the service year itself, during which the investment is carried out, but from the participant’s contribution to GDP during her or his working life, which commences immediately following the period of service.
· The findings also indicate that it National Civic Service should be viewed as an investment that considerably reduces dependence of disadvantaged populations on state resources and the need to reinvest in rehabilitation at later stages.
· In light of the current government decisions to increase the number of service slots for the Arab and ultra-Orthodox populations, the trend to include other populations becomes reinforced, particularly when based on proof of expediency for the economy.
Service profit for the various populations
The outcomes below show that the rates of employment of youth per population after having volunteered the National Civic Service are higher than for their peers from identical populations who did not volunteer (subdivided for age groups 20-24, and 25-29):
Further findings
In addition to the clear findings of return on investment in service, the study also based itself on a survey conducted among graduates of the various programs. Interesting findings surfaced for each of the researched populations. Below are the main findings:
Arab society
· Some 90% of Arab graduates work or study or integrate both. Only 10% are neither working nor studying. By comparison, a review of the general Arab young adult population found that 40% are neither working nor studying, according to a study conducted by Dr. Momi Dahan for the Israel Institute of Democracy.
· Approximately one third of Arab graduates agree to the statement: “If I had not volunteered for National Civic Service, I would currently be unemployed.”
· 59% of Arab graduates agree to the statement: “A year of volunteering is the ticket into the workforce.”
Young female immigrants (with emphasis on the Ethiopian community)
· 94% of the graduates are working or studying, or integrating both.
· 73% of the graduates are working, whereas the rate of young Ethiopian women in the overall 25-34 year age group stands at just 46% according to a report produced by the Adva Center on employment rates for Israelis of Ethiopian origin.
· 48% of the young female immigrants agree to the statement: “A year of volunteering is the ticket into the workforce.”
Youth with impairments
· Over 60% of the graduates with impairments are currently employed, compared to 43.2% of the overall population of individuals with impairments in the 20-64 year age range, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
· 27% agree with the statement: “If I had not volunteered for National Civic Service, I would currently be unemployed.”
Young women at risk
· 88% of the graduates from at-risk backgrounds are working or studying, or integrating both.
· 61% of the graduates from at-risk backgrounds agree with the statement: “A year of volunteering is the ticket into the workforce.”
About the Forum
The Forum for Promotion of National Civic Service was established in 2010 under the initiative of the Gandyr Foundation. It current six members are organizations for social change activating volunteers from disadvantaged populations through National Civic Service: Ma'ase, Bat Ami, Gvanim, Joint Youth Centers, Appleseeds Academy, and Mifalot Education & Social Project.
The forum was set up to make service accessible to disadvantaged populations, based on the realization that volunteering is one of the most effective tools for providing equal opportunity, lessening social disparity, and promoting social mobility. The forum works to increase the number of slots for these populations, and ensure that the slots are accompanied by worthwhile enrichment packages so that volunteers can become empowered while volunteering, and enjoy meaningful service for themselves and their country.
The forum’s vision is to achieve a state of ‘right to serve’, that is, a norm where every youth in Israel exempted from military service for any reason but who wishes to serve can do so through the National Civic Service framework.
About the economic study
The economic study was prepared at the forum’s request by Adalya Economic consultants Ltd. Its purpose was to examine National Civic Service in Israel in terms of national cost to benefit effectiveness, while analyzing the consequences of its expansion to encompass disadvantaged populations, in the short and long terms.
Adalya is an economic and process management consultancy specializing, inter alia, in complex, large scale projects for the governmental sector. The company holds experience and expertise in applying complicated reforms in the field of employment. As such, the company has gained unique experience and comprehensive familiarity with the workforce in Israel and overseas, including diverse programs for promoting employment and handling various population sectors, with emphasis on disadvantaged populations.
The economic analysis which constitutes part of this study compared two groups of service graduates from among each of the forum’s target populations (the research groups) with the control group for each population. The model measures disparities between survey results for service graduates compared to the control group according to statistics taken from the CBS, which group has not served in any framework.
A calculation of the contribution to GDP was calculated by measuring the average growth rate of employment of each research groups against the control groups. Employment growth was measured by estimating the average extra earning for each of the research groups, over a period of 35 years which would commence on completion of the service (at present value).