what Are the Necessary Professional Skills for High-Tech Workers?
The high-tech sector is leading the Israeli economy in terms of innovation, labor productivity, and salaries. It is widely assumed that the demand for professional high-tech workers is global, and that the growth of employment in this sector is mainly limited by the availability of qualified workers, and not limited by demand-side barriers. Following many years of stability in the share of high-tech employees out of the total number of employees in the Israeli economy, between 2017 and 2021 the share of high-tech employees (aged 15 and above) had risen by around 2 percentage points, and at the end of 2021 it stood at around 9% of all employees, and around 10.3% of salaried workers.
High-tech companies manufacture pharmaceuticals, computers, electronic and optical equipment, as well as aircrafts, spacecrafts, and accompanying equipment (high-tech manufacturing sectors), and provide services which include computing services (coding, computer-related consulting, data processing, data storage, website creation) and R&D (research and development) services.
Between 1995 and 2021, there had been a significant change in the distribution of employees and output among high-tech manufacturing and services sectors. The share of high-tech workers which are employed in the manufacturing sectors had declined from around 65% of all high-tech employees in 1995, to around 35% in 2021, while the share of high-tech workers employed in the services sectors had increased from around 35% to around 65% during that time. A similar shift had occurred in the sectoral distribution of output: the share of high-tech manufacturing sectors in the total output had declined from around 70% in 1995 to around 30% in 2021, while the share of high-tech services sectors in the total output had increased from around 30% in 1995 to around 70% in 2021.
The shift in the sectoral distribution of employees within the high-tech sector suggests that the composition of occupations (positions) in high-tech sectors is changing, which in turn implies a corresponding change in the distribution of the characteristics of skills required from high-tech employees.
Another phenomenon which has occurred in the high-tech sector over the last five years is a significant increase in the number of “growth companies”: startup companies with an accelerated growth rate of over 20% in their annual revenue and the number of their employees within the last three years. These growth companies are expected to lead a substantial part of the growth in high-tech employees in the next few years.
Aiming to figure out which professional skills will be necessary for high-tech workers in the years to come, and to help establishing policy measures which would contribute to increased employment in the high-tech sectors, the study conducted in Aaron Institute by Prof. Niron Hashai and Dr. Sergei Sumkin has focused on three questions:
- Which fields of knowledge, skills, personal qualities, and values are the most sought after by Israeli high-tech companies in prospective employees?
- How do these characteristics differ when comparing between different positions and different types of companies?
- Which characteristics should be focused upon and developed in prospective high-tech employees?
To answer these questions, the research team has been examining:
- Which occupations in high-tech companies have been in increasing demand in recent years, while dividing occupations into three categories: technological positions, growth and business development positions, and other positions.
- What are the necessary skills for those in-demand occupations.
Our investigation is based on data from workforce surveys conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which enable us to track the development of high-tech occupations; administrative CBS data, which enable us to differentiate employees in various high-tech companies according to their qualifications (matriculation major, academic major) and income; data from the survey of high-tech companies which enable us to differentiate employees in various positions and various companies according to their course of study and training (matriculation studies, extracurricular activities, military service in technological units, academic studies); data from Retrain Ltd which enable us to identify high-tech companies which have advertised available positions on relevant websites, to identify positions in high demand (divided between technological positions, growth and business development positions), and to identify the required skills for these positions.
In the round table discussion we will present preliminary research findings and discuss the following questions:
- Which high-tech sectors are expected to grow over the next few years
- Which occupations are expected to be in growing demand?
- What are the necessary skills for in-demand occupations?
- Which skills should be addressed during training in order to facilitate a growth in high-tech employment according to occupations?
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