Job vacancies decrease - Demand for high-tech people dropped and fell by 45% from last March

The slowdown in the economy has also reached the number of vacancies which continues to decrease and with it, the demand for high-tech people also drops. The number of vacancies decreased from 144,700 in October to 141,200 in November (seasonally adjusted data). This is a decrease of nearly 10,000 jobs from the record of 151,400 last April. Particularly affected was the demand for software engineers (programmers), which fell by 45% from last March.

Before the corona crisis, the level of vacancies in the economy stood at about one hundred thousand jobs. But in the last year, it stabilized at around 150 thousand, despite a decrease in unemployment and an increase in employment. But it seems that the slowdown in the economy also affects the number of vacancies. If you check original data (and not seasonally adjusted) the deterioration is much greater from 157,300 vacancies in August to 136,300 in November.
The vacancy rate (the percentage of vacancies out of all jobs in the economy. The figures are seasonally adjusted) continues to decrease from 4.62% in October to 4.49% in November. The vacancy rate fell for the first time since March 2021 below 4.5%. This after reaching a peak of 5.06% of vacancies in November 2021.
The demand for engineering and high-tech workers continues to deteriorate. The demand for engineers decreased by 8% to 11,800 workers. The demand for software engineers decreased by 9% to 7,700 jobs. For comparison, last March the demand for engineers was 18,600 jobs and for software engineers 14,000. That is, there was a 45% drop in demand for software engineers. However, at the same time there was also a decrease in demand for low-wage jobs, which means that the slowdown in high-tech may be spreading to the rest of the economy. The demand for cooks decreased by 15%, for waiters and bartenders by 7%, for telephone sales representatives by 7% and security guards by 12%.

 The unemployment rate in Israel decreased again in November to 4.1%. This after it rose in October from 3.9% to 4.3% and caused fear that we are at the threshold of an era of rising unemployment. The estimates are that the return of the economy to full activity after the Tishrei holiday period led to a renewed decrease in unemployment in Israel.
The data shows that the employment rate also increased in November to 60.6% compared to 60.3% in October, but at the same time a particularly interesting figure published by the CBS is that the rate of those who "give up" in the job search is increasing.
These are those who searched for work without success in the previous 12 months and stopped looking for work in the four weeks preceding the survey, even though they were able to work. The reasons for which they decided to stop looking for work were that there is no job that suits them, lack of experience or lack of rent, language difficulties and inappropriate age. According to the expanded figure that includes those who despair and also those who were temporarily absent from their jobs, the number of unemployed in Israel reached 237.5 thousand, which is 5.4% in November, compared to only 228.5 thousand, which was 5.2%, in October.
In November there were 181.1 thousand unemployed in Israel, which is as mentioned 4.1% of the labor force in the economy, compared to 186.4 thousand unemployed in October, which made up 4.3% of the labor force.
The number of employees who were temporarily absent from their jobs in November, together with the unemployed, reached 198.9 thousand, which is 4.5%, compared to 197.8 thousand, also 4.5%, in October.
According to the broad definition, there were 224,000 unemployed, which is 5.1%, in November, compared to 224,100, with a similar unemployment rate in October.
In total, in November of this year, there were 6,939,400 people aged 15 and over in Israel who, according to the international definitions, could work, of which 4,389,100 men and women were in the labor force, while 2,550,300 Israelis did not work and were not looking for work. The number of those who give up reached 16,600 men and women, representing 0.6%. 25,200 workers stopped working due to layoffs or closure of the workplace since the outbreak of the corona virus in March 2020 and they make up 1.0% of those not in the labor force in the economy.