Head of employment service: AI bringing increased unemployment in hi

Unemployment data in the hi-tech sector are reaching new highs, with more than 16,000 workers recently registering as unemployed, Inbal Mashash, director general of the Israel Employment Service told 103FM on Tuesday.

"We are seeing a trend of an increase in the number of job seekers in hi-tech. This is a record number for normal times. If we look at trends in recent years, compared with 2022, this is a threefold increase. That is definitely concerning and indicates a problem," she said.

Regarding the profile of the job seekers, Mashash noted that the damage is felt most strongly among developers. "Half of them are software workers, where there is very high exposure to artificial intelligence. That is why we are seeing a very strong correlation and connection between the fact that the number of job seekers has risen and the expansion of the use of artificial intelligence. These are people from the core of the industry, with more than eight years of seniority and experience."

During the interview, Davidov asked how the Employment Service helps those experienced workers who lost their jobs to new technologies. Mashash replied: "In the era of artificial intelligence, everyone must undergo upskilling, and this is not only about the hi-tech sector. Our role is to look at the labor market as a whole, which is changing at a very fast pace."

"The hi-tech sector is the engine of growth for the economy. We see that there are about 14,000 open positions in the sector, and another 4,000 technology jobs outside it. We assume that some of the people who undergo certain training programs will find themselves back in the sector."

The director general of the Employment Service added about the organization’s active efforts that, "We are working in cooperation with the Innovation Authority, the AI headquarters and the Manufacturers Association, and are working to integrate them into non-technological sectors, such as traditional industries. There is a double benefit when those people are integrated there."

Toward the end of the interview, Mashash assessed that the negative trend has not yet run its course: "We expect there will be another increase in the coming months, and then it will gradually moderate."