Demand for Software Developers Drops Sharply, Falling Below 6,000 Openings
Translated & summarized from Calcalist by baba
The number of open software developer positions in Israel fell 6% to below 6,000 between August and October, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Overall job openings in the economy also dropped 2% in October. This decline follows a period of unusually high job opening numbers, with the war's impact making it difficult to establish a new normal for the labor market.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Software developer job openings dropped 6% to under 6,000 in August-October.
- This represents a 31.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2022.
- Overall engineering positions decreased by 3% during the same period.
- Total job openings in Israel fell 2% in October.
- The war has made it difficult to determine the current normal level of job openings.
- Job openings peaked at around 153,000 in December.
The number of available software developer positions in Israel has decreased by 6%, falling to just under 6,000. This figure dropped from an average of 6,339 in July-September to 5,959 in August-October. Compared to the February-April average of 6,973, this represents a 14.5% decline, and a significant 31.7% drop from the August-October 2022 average of 8,730. These statistics are based on the Central Bureau of Statistics' (CBS) latest survey of job openings.
Overall engineering positions, including software developers, saw a 3% decrease, moving from an average of 11,600 in July-September to 11,213 in August-October. The total number of job openings across the economy unexpectedly fell by 2% in October, from 146,757 in September to 143,770. It remains unclear whether this is a new trend or a seasonal fluctuation due to workers returning to the labor force after the summer and holiday season. The proportion of job openings relative to all available positions also declined slightly, from 4.40% in September to 4.32% in October.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, the typical number of job openings in Israel ranged between 90,000 and 100,000. The labor market had not seen a stable routine for six and a half years. While 2023 initially showed a gradual decrease in openings, approaching stabilization at 114,500 by September, the outbreak of the war has made it difficult to determine the current normal level. However, the recent figures of around 150,000 job openings recorded over the past year are considered very high, with a peak of approximately 153,000 in December, the highest since measurements began in 2009.
