The shortage is so bad that, at this rate, housing prices in Tel Aviv will reach 100,000 shekels per square meter.
The severe shortage of foreign workers in the construction industry will lead to a 20% increase in housing prices by 2022 compared to 2021, said Eldad Nitzan, chairman of the Foreign Workers’ Manpower Corporations in the Construction Industry at the Chamber of Commerce.
At this rate, prices will reach NIS 100,000 per square meter in Tel Aviv, he said.
Nitzan is currently appealing to the housing, finance and interior ministers to take immediate action to implement the decision to bring another 15,000 foreign workers to the construction industry who will do wet work jobs in the industry.
Chinese foreign workers are taking advantage of the severe shortage of foreign workers and are demanding salaries of about NIS 20,000 per month.
The employment of about 30,000 foreign workers in the wet work industry will also lead to a reduction in the wages of foreign workers and will help contractors reduce costs in light of the fact that due to the shortage of foreign workers, contractors are paying huge wages.
Today, the construction industry employs about 16,500 foreign workers, about 2,500 of whom are from Ukraine, and some of them have left Israel in the last two months to join their families who fled Ukraine. Hundreds of other foreign workers from Ukraine are also currently considering leaving Israel.