High-tech job openings in Israel fall by 30% over eight months

The number of job vacancies decreased by 2% - from 151,000 in September to 148,000 in October, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics' (CBS) vacancy survey data published yesterday. The rate of vacancies for all jobs in the economy decreased from 4.82% in September to 4.72% in October. This is a decrease of about 0.3% from the record figure in February, which was 5% of all jobs in the economy. It should be noted that these data are seasonally adjusted.

A particularly significant decrease was recorded in the information and communication industries associated with high-tech - from 8.74% of vacant jobs in February to 6.03% in October. This is a cumulative decrease of 31% in the demand for high-tech workers. The demand for engineers fell in October by 6% to 13,000, and the demand for software developer engineers fell by 7% to 8,700.

High-tech jobs.

In the employment data published last week, a significant decline was recorded for the first time since the end of the pandemic. The employment rate (not including people put on leave without pay) dropped significantly from 60.9% in September to 60.2% in October. The unemployment rate, which was expected to continue to decrease in October, rose from 3.9% to 4.3%.

Both the number of vacancies and their rate are still very high compared to the level of about 100,000 before the pandemic. However, the fact that in October their number decreased at the same time as a decrease in employment and an increase in unemployment can indicate a certain slowdown in the economy and especially expectations for a slowdown. It seems that the food and beverage industries are also beginning to feel the pain - a 13% decrease was recorded in the demand for waiters and bartenders, but it is still high and stands at close to 10,000 jobs. A 10% decrease was recorded in the demand for cooks.