Central Bureau of Statistics: 14,000 software developers are missing in the Israeli High-Tech

The Israeli high-tech industry is very fond of saying that there is a shortage of workers. Here comes the Central Bureau of Statistics trying to put things in order: 14,000 software developers are missing. However, this number expresses only a small part of the story. To think that only 14,000 workers are missing in high-tech is a form of thinking that is appropriate for a governmental and public body and not for an industry that is moving fast and not waiting for initiatives from the state.
The leap forward that the local high-tech industry has made in recent years is reflected today in hundreds of companies, each of which has the potential to be a huge company, even in international terms. The crisis these days in Ukraine teaches us how much more workers are missing in the country. According to reports from this country, there are tens of thousands of Ukrainians - some say 50,000 - who actually work in the Israeli high-tech industry. Similar numbers of workers, employed by Israeli companies, can be found in India, China and other Eastern European countries. Were it not for these workers, the Israeli high-tech industry would have been in serious trouble.
Dozens of unicorns in the country, such as Fireblocks, Rapid, Gong and others, declare this morning and tonight that the determination that 10,000,000 workers are missing in Israeli high-tech is narrow and relates only to the next one or two years. These companies believe that in a short time they will need much more than a few hundred employees per company, and they strive to become giants that employ thousands and even tens of thousands of employees, similar to companies in the United States.
Quite a few companies would prefer to find employees close to home. Israel has already invested hundreds of millions in trying to integrate under-represented populations that suffer from under-representation in the industry, with little success. Google, for its part, announced today that it is investing $ 25 million in trying to bring such populations into the field. Google-style private initiatives may be more likely to bring more workers to the industry.
A new study presented to the Ministry of Science warns of a relative decline in Israel's research output rating, which could lead to damage to its international academic status. The scope of international academic collaborations in Israel has also decreased, and as a result the Israeli academy may lose sources of funding.
The decrease was determined according to indices that examine the number of studies that the Israeli academy issues, in relation to global output and population size, as well as in relation to developed countries that compete with Israel in the research arena. For comparison, all areas of research documented in the academic databases were examined.
The study shows that Middle Eastern countries have increased their research output in the last two decades at a faster rate than Israel. In 2000, Israel produced 40% of the studies published in Middle Eastern countries, and in 2020 its share was only 10%.
The study was conducted at the Shmuel Ne'eman Institute at the Technion, and was presented at the end of December to the National Council for Civilian Research and Development, which operates in the Ministry of Science. In response to the presentation of the study, the Minister of Science, Orit Farkash HaCohen, instructed the chairman of the MULMOP, Prof. Peretz Lavi, to present a plan to change the situation.
At this stage, the decline in research output has not harmed Israel's position in the indices examining the quality of the research, although the R&D warns that this may occur in the future. The quality of the research is measured according to several indicators, based on the number of citations of the studies produced in Israel in leading journals, or in the studies of other researchers. The R&D also notes that the scope of international collaborations in Israeli research is quite low, which may harm the sources of funding and the impact of research in Israel.
According to Lavi, "The data indicate a clear decline in research in Israel. In the past we were in the top ten internationally, but the increase in research output in Israel in the last decade has been lower than in other countries, including the Middle East." "Iran and Saudi Arabia. The fate of the start-up country depends on its research. We must not ignore these red flags."