68 Friday, December 16, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Greenberg Sees Difficult Times for Jewish Middle Class
By BEN GALLOB
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Many Jews throughout the
United States are among
the "large number of profes-
sionals" who are jobless,
"many for the first time in
r
their lives," according to the
president of the National
Association of Jewish Voca-
tional Services (NAJVS),
which has monitored the
economic and job situation
in the U.S. for the past two
years.
NAJVS President John
Greenberg also reported "an
ever-growing number of
small businessmen facing
bankruptcies" and "large
numbers of young college
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graduates without any
opportunity for employ-
ment," as well as "a growing
number of young high
school and college students
who are beginning to feel
that it does not pay to com-
plete their education and
who are becoming increas-
ingly discouraged and voca-
tionally confused."
Greenberg, of Detroit,
is vice president of the
Jewish Vocational Serv-
ice and Community
Workshop of Detroit and
chairman of the Jewish
Educational Loan Serv-
ice. He has been a
member of the JVS-CW
board for 15 years.
Against the background
of a steady improvement in
the American economy,
Greenberg said that the ef-
fects of. unemployment,
which he described as a
"growing cancer," included
the danger of middle-class
families breaking up.
He also reported findings
by the NAJVS of single-
parent heads of households
unable to earn "even a basic
subsistence," and that
many of the jobless Jews are
"finding it increasingly dif-
ficult or impossible to make
mortgage payments or to
pay rent."
In summary, he declared,
"the economic and social
stability of the middle
class," the category com-
prising most American
Jewish families reeling
from the continuing blows
of the recession and the im-
pact of a shift of the Ameri-
can economy to a
technologically-oriented
base, is now clearly "at
risk."
Greenberg reported
the NAJVS findings in
testimony before a Con-
gressional field hearing
of the Public Assistance
and Unemployment Sub-
committee of the House
Ways and Means Com-
mittee held in Atlanta
during the 52nd General
Assembly of the Council
of Jewish Federations
last month. The text of his
testimony has now been
released by the NAJVS
office here. Greenberg
also told the Con-
gressmen that the volun-
tary sector was con-
tributing substantially
toward solving the prob-
lems threatening the via-
bility of the middle class
but that the needs re-
mained so great and so
critical that it was be-
yond the resources of
voluntary agencies to
"achieve the sufficient"
without "the full partici-
pation" of the federal
government.
He reported that a recent
national survey, completed
by the NAJVS in coopera-
tion with the CJF, disclosed
that "well over 30,000 of
this middle-class group
have registered for Jewish
vocational services over the
last 18 months," a
minimum increase of 16
percent of the total current
caseloads of these agen-
cies."
Greenberg said the study
JOHN GREENBERG
supported NAJVS findings
"that Jews, like other
Americans, are showing up
in great numbers at our
agencies for service." Speci-
fically, he reported, the
Jewish job agencies list
"major increases in the
25-55 year age group, par-
ticularly the 45 and over
segment, and in both college
undergraduates and
graduates."
Greenberg reported
that jobless persons
"who had been making
$20,000 to $45,000" an-
nually "were now regis-
tering for service and
looking for work for the
first time in their lives,
and many more female
heads of households are
applying for assistance."
He declared that 60 per-
cent of the 28 affiliated
NAJVS agencies reported a
decline of interest by young
people concerning college-
bound planning.
Greenberg added that,
despite the reported drop in
interest in college
attendance, the young Jews
who do still want to go to
college "are facing great dif-
ficulty." He reported that
Detroit's Jewish Educa-
tional Loan Service, which
provides scholarships to
those who are indigent or
otherwise unable to meet
tuition and other college
costs,- has received "a tre-
mendous increase in re-
quest from middle income
(or former middle income)
families in the $20,000 to
$40,000 income range."
He said that, in that
data, "is the tip of the
iceberg — the emergence of,
the 'new poor.' Because of
the great demand, we are
now able to fund only 75
percent of the requests" to
the loan service.
Beyond these immediate
concerns, threatening as
they are, effective ways
must be found to "confront
what is by our reckoning the
most profound economic
challenge since the change
from an agricultural to an
industrial base" in the
American economy, Green-
berg said.
He warned that the
"high tech" revolution,
rather than holding out
"a cure for economic and
employment ills," pre-
sents, on the contrary,
new and difficult chal-
lenges.
Greenberg asserted that
"most new jobs created dur-
ing- the 1980s and 1990s will
not be in high technology
nor will the new jobs in this
field require a vast upgrad-
ing of skills." He said that
what was more likely would
be "the insertion of equip-
ment of a high tech nature"
which will "reduce skill re-
quirements," meaning, he
asserted, that "the middle
range of the job spectrum
will continue to shrink."
Soviet Subs
Based in Syria
TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Zeev
Schiff reports in Haaretz
that Syria has agreed to
base Russian submarines at
the port of Tartus, as well as
surface vessels.
Schiff says this is a direct
result of the Lebanon war
and is in addition to the
5,000 Soviet military advis-
ers already in Syria.
Resigns Post
JERUSALEM (JNI) —
Raphael Kotlowitz, ousted
last month from the chair-
manship of the Jewish
Agency Aliya department,
has resigned his post as
chairman of the World
Zionist Organization (WZO)
department of immigration
and absorption.
Kahns Host Bonds Meeting
New.
Pictured at the 1984 Honorary Societies renewal
reception held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. D. Dan H
Kahn on behalf of Israel Bonds, are, from left: Kahn;
Chaim Yaron, guest speaker; Betty Kahn; and David
B. Holtzman, Israel Bonds national campaign co-
chairman-at-large.