Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

Since February of last year, the government has committed itself to reducing the number of work permits available to foreigners.

In the last quarter of the year, there was a 1.9 percent decline in the number of foreign workers to 87,000, in comparison to the fourth quarter of 1996.

The figures are based on the number of workers registered with the National Insurance Institute.

Labor and Social Affairs Minister Eli Yishai has committed himself to eventually cut the foreign workforce to the barest minimum, with the intention of reducing the number of permits by 10,000 during the course of this year.

In 1996, 106,161 permits were issued by Yishai's ministry. This was cut to 90,192 last year, with plans for issuing 80,000 by this coming December. The main cut in workers will come in the construction industry, according to a ministry spokesman.

Ministry head of personnel planning Benjamin Fefferman offered possible reasons for the rise:

*There are certain sectors where there is a continuous increase in the number of workers needed, in particular in nursing and ancillary health care, employed through recruitment agencies. In this category, the total number of workers rose by approximately 3,000 to 4,000 people last year.

*The figures presented to the National Insurance Institute by employers could include workers without permits.

*There is a margin of error in the bureau's figures of some 2,000 to 3,000.

Fefferman confirmed there are an estimated 100,000 illegal foreign workers currently in the country.