Unemployment Rate for Israeli Academics Soars 46% in Four Years

The proportion of unemployed academics among job seekers in Israel has surged by 46%, rising from 14% in August 2022 to 20.5% in August 2026. This increase occurs despite an overall low unemployment rate of around 3% in the economy. The trend, described as the "weakening of the strong" in the labor market over the past four years, is detailed in the Labor Market Pulse report for August released by the Employment Service.

The rise in unemployed academics has been steady, reaching 18.6% in May of the current year, climbing to 19.7% in June, 20.3% in July, and 20.5% in August. A significant contributing factor is the growing unemployment among software developers, with the number of job seekers in this field increasing by 6.4% from 8,350 in June to 8,900 in August.

Another factor contributing to the August figures is the seasonal layoff of ultra-Orthodox teachers during the summer break. This phenomenon also impacts the gender and sectorial distribution of job seekers. The number of female job seekers rose from 96,200 in July to 97,900 in August, increasing their share of the total from 56.8% to 58.5%. This figure is expected to decrease to around 54% in October when these teachers return to work.

The "weakening of the strong" trend is also evident when analyzing by socioeconomic clusters. The proportion of job seekers from the higher socioeconomic clusters (8-10) rose from 16.8% in August 2023 to 20.6% in August of the current year. Conversely, the proportion of job seekers from the lower clusters (1-3) decreased from 41.2% in August 2023 to 37% in August of the current year.

The summer layoff phenomenon disproportionately affects the ultra-Orthodox sector, with a 7.9% increase in job seekers from this community, from 15,000 to 16,100. In contrast, job seekers from the Arab community saw a 4.3% decrease, and there was no significant change among non-ultra-Orthodox Jews.