Participants at the DLD Tel Aviv Digital Conference, Israel’s largest international high-tech gathering, held at the Old Train Station complex in Tel Aviv on September 6, 2017. Photo: Miriam Alster / Flash90.
Israel has announced the launch of a $6.2 million program to boost the number of Arab-Israelis in the high-tech sector, as the country suffers from a shortage of skilled workers.
The grants are awarded to companies, corporations and NGOs for a maximum of 70 percent of their costs to develop programs and models to further help integrate Arab-Israelis into the high-tech industry, the Israel Innovation Authority and the ‘General Directorate of the Ministry of Economy. of Labor said in a joint statement on Thursday.
“The Arab population in Israel has enormous unexplored growth potential, and integration into the wider Israeli economy, and especially technology, is key to closing socioeconomic gaps and ensuring sustainable economic growth,” said the Israel Innovation Authority CEO Dr. Bin.
The innovation authority already has 14 dedicated training and placement programs for the Arab sector, Bin added.
Overall, Arab Israelis make up 21 percent of the country’s population, but their percentage in the tech industry is only 2 percent to 3 percent.
One in eight non-Haredi Jewish men aged 25-35 work in tech compared to just one in 52 Arab men and one in 118 Arab women, said Tair Ifergan, director of the labor branch at Israel’s Economy Ministry.
“This joint tender will promote new programs and solutions to meaningfully build and expand the percentage of Arab Israelis employed in the tech industry,” Ifergan added.
In the past year, Israel has trained more than 100,000 people through its professional education and studies at technical colleges for practical engineering, to integrate students from diverse communities, according to Ifergan.
“The current call for tender therefore aims to expand the models and programs for the education and integration of STEM and other related technical skills into the tech industry,” she said.
Companies competing in the tender must propose models for finding and filtering candidates, including assessment and mapping; improve access to industry for human capital within Arab minority communities; expose potential candidates to job opportunities; and fill gaps in professional knowledge and training for potential candidates with a relevant background.
Earlier this year, Israel announced a decision to increase the quota of work permits for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip by an additional 2,000, bringing the total to 14,000. The expansion is part of a government plan to gradually allow a total of 20,000 Gazan workers into Israel as the security situation permits.
