The number of job vacancies in Israel fell from 135,300 in February 2023 to 130,898 in March 2023, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports. This is the lowest figure since April 2021.
The downward trend comes after the number of job vacancies rose during 2021 and the first half of 2022, peaking at more than 150,000 in the middle of last year. However, the current number of job vacancies is higher than in 2019 when the figure stood at 100,000.
The substantial fall in job vacancies is due to the global economic slowdown which includes a dramatic rise in interest rates over the past 12 months, which has weighed on a tight job market, one of the main reasons for the rise in inflation.
The proportion of job vacancies compared with the overall number of people in work is also declining. In March there were 4.17 jobs per 1,000 employees compared with 4.27 in February. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, "This estimate reflects a fall of 18% in the rate of job vacancies compared with March 2022, when the figure was 5.05." These figures are based on a survey of businesses with five or more employees.
The highest number of job vacancies is for sales staff, where there has been a dramatic shortfall since the Covid pandemic. In this sector there was an average of 11,468 job vacancies between January and March.
10% of Israel's workforce totaling 370,000 employees, works in the tech industry, although the number of job vacancies for software developers fell 3% in March to 6,138 from the December 2022 to February 2023 average. This number peaked at 13,720 between January and March 2022.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 23, 2023.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.