TTt
JJj
Statistical Facts About Education and Poverty Among Hasidim
12/20/2018
A key excuse given by public officials as to why they focus on the curriculum at Hasidic boy schools across the state of New York is that poverty in Hasidic neighborhoods is higher than other places, and the alleged cause of it is Yeshiva education. The number of hours that secular education should be taught at Yeshivas we will leave for others to debate and decide, but there are multiple factors that cause higher poverty rates among Hasidim that have literally nothing to do with Yeshivas and changing Yeshiva education would not change it. The Village of Kiryas Joel (Town of Palm Tree) in Orange County New York will be used as an example since it is the largest Hasidic community quantified by the Census.
For starters, the Poverty Rate is measured by the amount of household income split by the amount of people who live in the household. A household of 2.63 people - the average household size in New York in 2017 - that earns $19,500 a year would not be considered in poverty but the average household in KJ earning $30,500 would be considered in poverty because the average household size in Kiryas Joel is 5.50 people. Some argue that ‘if you can’t afford them, don’t have them,’ but the same people would not dare say it to the parents of the 2.5 million children who attend public schools in New York at a cost to taxpayers 15 times more than what taxpayer spend for a private school student, and more than half public school students live in poverty. Besides, the argument of having less children based on affordability sidesteps the point that larger household size causes poverty rates to spike irrespective of actual income or education levels of the breadwinner.
The second factor in poverty rates is that it counts the full “household income”; not just the income from the male or female. This is key because only 35.7% of women in Kiryas Joel are in the workforce compared to 58.6% for the rest of New York; thus, leaving many KJ household with less income. Detractors of the Hasidic community would in misogynistic fashion tell Hasidic women what to do; in this case to go work but having less income in the household because only one person works says nothing about the income abilities of the male breadwinner based on his Yeshiva education.
A third factor is that the average head of household in the Hasidic community is many years younger than the rest of New York and younger people earn much less. The median age of the KJ population is 13.8 but New York’s median age is 38.4. Only 2.2% of the Kiryas Joel population is above the age of 65 compared to 16% New Yorkers. This plays a huge role in income because the Median Household Income in New York over the last five years was almost half the amount in households led by those under the age of 25 compared to households led by a 25-44 year-old.
These three factors - double the household size; almost half the income due to age; and less household income due to less women working – are mostly why the Poverty Rate in Kiryas Joel was 48.0% in 2017 compared to 14.1% for New York, and these three things have literally nothing to do with how much or how little a Yeshiva education prepares Hasidic men for the business world.
The few points of the elevated Poverty Rate that are not caused by the above factors can be attributed to other things such as some people across New York choose to work less due to a regressive social benefit system that leaves a family of four better off financially if it earns $30,000 a year than if it earns $55,000. Many Hasidic men, due to marrying and having children as very young adults, are in the workforce before getting around to earning a license or taking courses in specific industries that others would take as college-age singles, but this won't change by changing Yeshiva education. Besides, elevated poverty rates in other ethnic or racial communities is blamed on society at large; not on the communities itself except when it comes to Hasidim. This blatant bigotry potentially spills into the workforce; locking out some Hasidim from well-paying jobs which in-itself contributes to Hasidic poverty rates.
By having more than 155,000 students in grades K-12 in private schools, the Jewish community in New York perfectly balances their religious obligations and material responsibilities, and at a deep discount to taxpayers too. Consider: An average private school student gets less than $1,500 a year in school services from taxpayers compared to $22,000 per public school student. This is an annual taxpayer savings of $3.1 billion with 60% of the savings for statewide taxpayers since the state pays on average 60% of school district budgets. Most of the savings remains intact despite the higher level of safety net eligibility among Hasidim, because it costs taxpayers less money to cover Medicaid for six Hasidic children than what it costs taxpayers one child in public school — and more than half public school children are on Medicaid too.
The mission of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC) is to counter the defamation and generalization of the Orthodox Jewish community. Our donate page is here.
Comments are closed.
Categories
OJPAC is a not-for-profit organization recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3).
Version: Mobile | Web