Despite coronavirus, Israeli programmer salaries near $10K per month

The hi-tech industry has still been impacted by the pandemic, with workers preferring established companies rather than promising start-ups.

NOVEMBER 23, 2020 23:42

Computer keyboard [illustrative] (photo credit: ING IMAGE) — Computer keyboard [illustrative]

(photo credit: ING IMAGE)

While many industries and economic sectors both in Israel and abroad have suffered severe losses and unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic, Israel's hi-tech sector has actually seen considerable growth, with average programmer salaries approaching the $10,000 mark, Calcalist reported.

Citing data collected by placement firm see.V, the average salary for programmers has jumped by 7% in 2020. For software professionals, the salary has crossed the NIS 30,000 mark. Among DevOps programmers, their salary jumped by 14%, rising to NIS 34,000. Algorithm developers have also seen a jump in salary by over 12% in the past year, reaching a monthly paycheck of NIS 34,600. However, there were minor salary drops in Java programmers and C++ developers, which come out as NIS 28,500 and NIS 30,700 per month, respectively.

According to see.V CEO Ronen Engler, the rise in salaries does not mean the hi-tech sector hasn't been affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Employment opportunities have been significantly cut by the virus, with the market for new jobs in Israel at around 75% of its pre-pandemic total. The tech industry may not have suffered as much as other industries, but there have been rises in concerns regarding job security despite the company being stable.

It seems that the priorities when finding a new workplace have changed due to the pandemic, focusing more on established companies rather than new start-ups, regardless of how promising they might be.

Unemployment continues to be a serious issue in other sectors of the Israeli economy, with nearly a million Israelis looking for work as the second lockdown began to be lifted.