Engineering Jobs Go Begging, Numbers Show

Engineers – especially electrical engineers – are in perennial short supply in Israel, and things are not expected to improve anytime soon. There are currently 2,408 open positions for engineers, according to statistics furnished by the Industrialists Association. That’s just slightly fewer than the number of open positions at the end of 2015, which amounted to 2,446. However, this year, like last, represents an increase in the number of unfilled jobs since 2014, when that number was 2,172.

Tops among jobs going begging are electrical engineers. As of this past June, 551 jobs in the field were seeking workers. There were also 539 open positions for civil engineers, 342 open jobs for mechanical engineers, and 295 positions for industrial production engineers, the statistics showed.

According to the study, Israel’s universities were not turning out anywhere near the number of graduates needed for these jobs. The reason for the lack of popularity of engineering as a career is not clear, but the pattern in Israel is similar to that in many other countries, including the United States, the report added.