Jerusalem, Israel’s capital and largest city, houses approximately 920,000 residents including 350,000 Arabs, who constitute 32% of the city’s population. The civil status of most of the Arabs are “residents,” due to the controversial status of East Jerusalem in the international sphere and the controversy with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which views Jerusalem as its capital — in a future peace agreement.

Jerusalem is viewed as a poor city in general, but the situation of the Arabs in Jerusalem is worse than that of Arabs in the rest of the country. The incidence of poverty of the East Jerusalem Arabs reaches 78%, versus 50% among Israeli Arabs in general, and 25% among Jerusalem’s Jewish population.

According to the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, the majority of the men and women in East Jerusalem's workforce earn minimum wage salaries. They are generally hired for nonprofessional work or for part-time work. The average salary of an Arab resident of East Jerusalem is almost 30% lower than the average wage in the Israeli economy.

Two programs recently promoted by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon are designed to address exactly this phenomenon. The two programs are interconnected and include employment in the educational, commercial and industrial spheres.