"Within 5 years there will be a shortage of 100,000 high-tech employees"
"Within 5 years there will be a shortage of 100,000 high-tech employees"
The Israeli government’s High-Tech Human Capital Committee, headed by Dadi Perlmutter, released its conclusions in which it outlined a path for doubling the number of tech employees
The National High-Tech Human Capital Committee, known as the Perlmutter Committee, states that the number of high-tech employees in Israel is significantly higher than the numbers specified by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
According to the report published yesterday by the committee, there are 447,000 high-tech employees in Israel, which amounts to 14.2% of the total number of employees in the economy. This figure is much higher than the believed 388,000, which amounts to 11.1%, according to the current survey. In a conversation with Calcalist, Dadi Perlmutter, chairman of the committee set up by Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Minister of Science and Technology Innovation, explained that the difference is mainly in the way tech employees are categorized. “Until now, a programmer at a bank was considered a bank employee and not a technological employee," said Perlmutter.
According to the report, the existing supply of skilled employees for high-tech does not meet the demand. This is a gap that will reach well over 100,000 employees over the next five years. The committee proposed that the government targets a total of 770,000 tech employees by 2035 in the case of rapid growth, 735,000 in the case of intermediate growth and 690,000 in the case of slow growth, and a total of 18%-20% of all employees in the economy.
The committee recommends that the government adopt a goal of reducing at least 50% of the gaps in integration in high-tech that exist today between: women and men, Arabs and Jews, Ultra-Orthodox and Non-Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and between the central district and the periphery. Without significant changes to integrate low-tech populations and without narrowing the gaps, which have major social and macroeconomic implications, it would be impossible to achieve the committee’s targets.
"The committee's recommendations put a spotlight on the urgent need to prepare the next generation for the future of employment,” said Farkash-Hacohen. “The report points to the need to significantly strengthen Israel's education and training infrastructure, while adapting to future needs."
In addition, in light of the lack of data, the report also created a new measurement tool for high-tech professions in Israel. The committee recommends a change in the method determining what counts as a tech job, suggesting to include not only employees in high-tech companies but also tech-focused employees in companies that are not technological and employees who are key in technology companies but are not technologists. The committee recommends placing great emphasis on education and strengthening mathematics, physics and computer science studies, while reducing gaps between the various populations, as well as reducing the 50% gap that currently exists between high-tech matriculation graduates in all districts and the Tel Aviv and Central District.
The committee also recommends increasing the number of high-tech students in academia, with an emphasis on special populations, by 3%-4% per year, adopting defense system goals for integrating populations that include integrating 30% of the socio-geographical periphery into technological positions by 2025.
