The National Committee on High Tech Human Capital, known as the Perlmutter Committee, claims that the number of high-tech employees in Israel is significantly higher than the figures 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 is equivalent to 14.2% of the total number of employees in the economy. This number is much higher than the estimated 388,000, which is equivalent to 11.1%, according to the current survey. In a conversation with Calcalist, Dadi Perlmutter, chairman of the committee created by Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Minister of Science and Technological Innovation, explained that the difference is mainly in the way technology employees are categorized. “Until now, a programmer at a bank was considered a bank employee and not a technology employee,” Perlmutter said.
According to the report, the existing supply of skilled high-tech employees does not meet demand. This is a gap that will hit well over 100,000 employees over the next five years. The committee proposed that the government target a total of 770,000 technology 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 the goal of reducing by at least 50% the high-tech integration gaps 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 closing gaps, which have major social and macroeconomic implications, it would be impossible to achieve the committee’s goals.
“The committee’s recommendations highlight the urgent need to prepare the next generation for the future of employment,” said Farkash-Hacohen. “
In addition, given 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 that determines what counts as a technology job, suggesting including not just employees at high-tech companies, but also technology-focused employees at non-tech companies and key employees at high-tech companies. technology, but they are not technologists. The committee recommends placing great emphasis on education and strengthening mathematics, physics, and computer science studies, narrowing the gaps between the various populations, as well as closing the 50% gap that currently exists among high-tech graduates in all districts. and the Tel Aviv district. and Central District.
The committee also recommends increasing the number of high-tech students in academia, with an emphasis on special populations, by 3% to 4% per year, adopting defense system goals for population integration that include integrating 30% of the periphery. sociogeographic in technological positions by 2025.
