A quarter of Israeli high-tech companies halted recruitment while another quarter plans to continue layoffs this year, a report said on Tuesday.
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According to a joint report by the Israel Innovation Authority and Start-Up Nation Policy Institute (SNPI), many firms are planning to cut their workforce by 5%.
"When money pours in, more people are getting hired in a nutshell, and since the middle of last year, we saw a decline in investment," Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, told Reuters.
While the country's tech sector accounts for 15% of the economic output and 10% of jobs, it has only raised $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023, which is 70% lower than in the same period of 2022. The fundraising level is the lowest in four years.
This also affects the hiring process. At the end of last year, 17,000 tech jobs were open, down from 33,000 in April 2022.
"In 2021 and 2022...people just jumped from one position to another. Today, it's much more difficult to 'steal talent' from other companies. But there are still companies that are recruiting, so this is the good news," Bin told Reuters.
He added that of all tech sectors, job losses have been lowest in agriculture, food, and clean tech. According to the report, along with layoffs, one-third of companies do not plan salary raises in 2023.
Reprinted with permission from i24NEWS.