Number of high-tech employees drops 10% in 8 months

The number of employees in the high-tech industry decreased since April of last year by 10% to 427,000 in December. The means that the number of employees in the industry has returned to the average level in 2022. In the last month of 2023, a slight decrease was recorded from 429,000 in November to 427,000. The number of employees climbed at the beginning of the year and reached an all-time high in March and April. Then there was a decrease due to the judicial reform and the global recession with a low of 411,000 in August. After a partial recovery to 442,000 in October, a renewed decrease was recorded due to the war.

It also appears from the annual HR survey data published on Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) that, in the calculation of the entire year 2023, the number of those employed in the high-tech industry increased by 3.2% to 441,000. The survey also shows that the fluctuations in the number of high-tech workers have a much greater effect on the employment of men than women. While the number of male workers in high-tech reached a peak of 325,000 in April and decreased since then (until November) by 15%, the number of employed women decreased from the peak of 157,000 recorded in June by just 2.5%.

The unemployment rate in the classical sense (unemployed people looking for work) decreased from 3.8%, which was 163,000 people in 2022, to 3.4% which was 153,000 people in 2023. But these are data that are annual averages, so their relevance in a year with unusual events is limited. Unemployment in the classical sense was of very little importance at the end of the year when the wave of unpaid leave began. In December, the classical unemployment rate stood at 3.1%, which is 140,000 people.