“The reason many in EY don’t is because they need the p’tur from the army.”
This was not said clearly. What it means is that the Israeli government has made it ILLEGAL for charedim to work. You cannot work in this country, up to age 28, unless you have served in the army. The p’tur (exemption) from the army is given on condition that the person who receives it is not ALLOWED to work. Charedim need the p’tur because the army is not run by G-d-fearing Jews and is no place for a charedi yeshiva bochur. The reason Jews in Kiryas Yoel and Williamsburg and Boro Park etc. go out to work is because it is fully LEGAL to do so in the United States.
I love how the Israeli government forbids young charedim from working — by law — and then accuses them of being parasitical spongers for not working.