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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Israel
Index
Western pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of
Jerusalem pass a seller of bagels.
Courtesy Les Vogel
During the mid-1950s, Israel, like other developing countries,
promoted the textile and apparel industry to be a ready source of
employment. By 1985 the textile and clothing industry was
represented by 1,523 establishments. These businesses employed
about 46,000 workers (representing 15 percent of industrial
workers) and earned revenues equal to approximately US$13 million,
or 8.8 percent of total industrial earnings. In 1988 Israel
continued to promote this industry as a source of employment for
unskilled and semiskilled immigrants and for local Israeli Arab
labor.
The textile and apparel industries were characterized by many
small firms and a few large, vertically integrated companies
(including Polgat Enterprises, considered one of the most efficient
producers in the world). Like other Israeli industries, the textile
and apparel industry depended for its survival on its ability to
export to Europe and the United States. Given the generally high
tariff barriers in Europe and the United States on such products,
the agreement Israel signed with the European Economic Community
(EEC) in 1977, the Israel-EEC Preferential Agreement, as well as
the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Agreement (as of 1987)
have lowered and will lower further these tariffs, thus making
Israeli textile and apparel products marginally competitive. Duty
savings were not expected to play a major role in increasing
Israel's trade competitiveness in these markets as long as Israeli
wages in these industries were higher then comparable wages in
Asia. Because they pay higher wages, Israeli textile and apparel
producers have continued to concentrate on the more expensive
segment of the market.
Data as of December 1988
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