Israel’s Civil Service Commission expects to see 15 per cent of public sector jobs become obsolete in the next few years due to digitalisation.
A report prepared for Civil Service Commissioner, Daniel Hershkowitz, and leaked to journalists, envisages around 6,500 public sector employees being replaced by computers and various technologies.
Professor Hershkowitz (pictured), in cooperation with Government Ministries, is believed to have mapped out ‘red jobs’ that are 85 per cent likely to disappear.
On the list of jobs which are highly threatened by automation are 2,158 legal administrative positions; 1;304 immigration and citizenship registration positions; 996 secretaries and office managers; 656 financial and accounting positions; and 366 survey and statistical processing positions.
Also threatened are 320 salary comptrollers; 182 land registration and arrangements positions; 178 filing clerks; 113 procurement and purchasing clerks; 110 registration clerks; 81 budget clerks; and 20 telephone operators.
Government sources say there is also large potential for streamlining in the Local Government sector.
If the 15 per cent ‘red jobs’ redundancy figure is translated to this area as well, then 110,000 employees would be at risk of losing their jobs.
The direct and indirect cost of salaries in the public sector amounts to NIS190 billion ($A85 billion) more than 40 per cent of the State budget.
Commentators pointed out that Professor Hershkowitz’s mapping process began in 2019 and had only just resumed after the COVID-19 crisis.
“As a result, some of these jobs may already have been made redundant by the shift to digital technology brought on by that crisis,” one source said.
Jerusalem, 17 November 2021
