Study finds loss of working hours due to reserve duty skyrocketed since outbreak of war

The Israel Democracy Institute releases a study finding the amount of working hours lost due to military reserve duty has soared over the past year amid the Israel-Hamas war.

According to the study, 5 percent of working hours were lost in October 2023, compared to 0.1% a month prior to the October 7 massacre.

The study says 130,000 employees were “mostly fully absent” from work each month between October and December last year.

That number dropped to 34,000 people in June and July this year, representing 1% of working hours, or 2% of men’s working hours, generating a loss of 1.16 million work hours each month, the study says.

“Even these numbers, while lower than during the height of the crisis at the end of 2023, are unprecedented, placing a considerable burden on workers and employers,” researcher Roe Kenneth Portal says.