AI victims: 9% increase in the number of unemployed programmers in Israel
The number of job seekers who are software developers and application analysts has risen over the last two months by 9%, from 7,950 in May to 8,650 in July, according to the Employment Service.
The number of job seekers who are software developers and application analysts has risen over the last two months by 9%, from 7,950 in May to 8,650 in July. This is part of a broader phenomenon. The number of job seekers from the high-tech sector grew during these two months by 3%, which is about 500 people, from 16,400 in May to 16,900 in July. This is according to the Employment Service's 'Labor Market Pulse' report for July, published today.
The significance of the data is that in other high-tech fields, there was a decrease in unemployment. The distortions created by the wave of initiated unpaid leave (HALAT) during the days of Operation 'Lion's Roar' in the March and April data prevent us at this stage from knowing whether this is a one-time phenomenon or a long-term trend. Unemployment in high-tech is part of a phenomenon that has characterized the labor market in recent years: the weakening of the strong and the strengthening of the weak. The rate of job seekers from the high socio-economic clusters (8–10) stood at 20.4% in July, which is 3.4 percentage points higher than in July 2023, before the war. In contrast, the weight of the low clusters (1–3) decreased by a similar rate of 3.4 percentage points, from 40.8% in July 2023 to 37.4% this past July.
8,100 'summer layoffs' registered with the Employment Service in July. 'Summer layoffs' are teachers, other education personnel, and instructors who are fired at the end of the school year and rehired after the holidays. This problematic phenomenon, which once existed in the Israeli academy as well (regarding junior staff), is prevalent today mainly in the ultra-Orthodox public. During July, about 40 thousand new job seekers were registered, of whom about 8,100 were 'summer layoffs' — about 20% of all new registrants.
The results of firing education personnel without tenure: the number of job seekers among teachers in secondary education rose between May and July by about 43.7%, from about 2.3 thousand to about 3.3 thousand. It is reasonable to assume that these are mainly teachers in ultra-Orthodox seminaries. The rate of women among all job seekers rose from 54.1% in June to 55.5% in July, and among new registrants, women accounted for about 58%. At the same time, the number of job seekers from the ultra-Orthodox society rose in July by about 24.4%. The rate of job seekers in ultra-Orthodox and mixed localities rose significantly: in Modi'in Illit from 2.6% in June to 4.1% in July, in Beitar Illit from 3.2% to 4.4%, in El'ad from 2.3% to 3.7%, and in Beit Shemesh from 3.5% to 4.3%. Also during the war rounds, ultra-Orthodox educational institutions stood out in sending their employees on unpaid leave (HALAT).
In July 2026, the number of job seekers in the original data rose from about 169 thousand in June to about 173.5 thousand. In contrast, in the trend data, the recovery trend from Operation 'Lion's Roar' was not halted. The number of job seekers in the trend data continued to decline, from about 177.6 thousand in June to 171.6 thousand in July. The recovery is also evident on the demand side for workers. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, in May 2026, the number of job vacancies stood at about 150.2 thousand — an increase of about 8.4 thousand vacancies compared to the previous month. As a result, the ratio between the number of vacancies and the number of job seekers stood at about 0.81, about four vacancies for every five job seekers, a situation indicating a tight market with high demand for workers. Employment Service CEO Inbal Mashash stated: 'The overall picture is of a labor market that is continuing its recovery process.'
