Demand for high-tech workers rises

MIT: The largest jump in demand is for software engineers.

by Shay Niv 
Globes
November 12, 2007

Manpower Israel Ltd. subsidiary Manpower Information Technologies 
(MIT) reports a 2.3% rise in demand for high-tech workers in October, 
compared with September. Demand is unchanged compared with 
October 2006. 

MIT CEO Erez Banovich says that October was the third consecutive 
month of rising demand, albeit moderate demand, for high-tech workers. 
"Most of the growth was for professionals, especially software engineers 
and programmers, which was somewhat higher last month." 

Nevertheless, demand in January-October was 6.6% less than during 
the corresponding period of 2006. 

Demand for software engineers was 18.4% higher in October than 
in September, demand for programmers rose 10.2%, demand for 
managers rose 6.8%, and demand for project managers and team 
leaders rose 2.4%. On the other hand, demand for network managers 
and support staff was 17% lower in October than in September. 

Industry sources said that demand was particularly strong for 
JAVA engineers, especially for graduates from the Technion Israeli 
Institute of Technology and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 
who are very hard to find. 

According to the pay scales published on online placement site 
JobInfo, C++ engineers with 3-5 years experience earn a monthly 
gross salary of NIS 21,000-24,000.