High-tech Beats Law and Medicine as Israelis’ Top Career Choice

Israelis say the best career choice is high technology, with far more people giving it higher marks than medicine, law and banking, a survey released Monday showed.

A phone survey of 500 Israelis by the Geocartography Knowledge Group found that 44.5% of respondents said high-tech was the most desirable career choice. In the December poll done for information technology firm Yael Group, only 26.1% said medical professions were the most desirable, followed by 11% for law, 8.4% for education and 5.8% for banking.

“It’s good to see that high-tech is still considered a desirable profession by the public,” said Yael CEO Nati Avrahami. “One of the attractions of the industry is the high salaries relative to the average wage nationally. Nevertheless, we face some serious challenges, like drawing the best of the young generation while keeping our costs competitive with Eastern Europe and the Far East.”

Survey answers varied a bit based on respondents’ gender, age and level of education, but high-tech remained the top career choice no matter what. More men (48.8%) believed that high-tech was the most desirable profession than women (40.5%).

A bigger gender disparity was found regarding careers in education, with just 3.7% of men saying it was their top choice, compared with 12.7% of women. Younger respondents favored high-tech slightly more than their older counterparts, with 46.1% of those ages 18-34 calling it the most desirable career choice. In the 35-54 age bracket, high-tech was the top choice for 45.5%, and for Israelis above 54 the rate was 41.6%.

At the same time, answers varied based on the level of Jewish religious observance. More ultra-Orthodox Jews viewed education careers as desirable (12.1%), compared with those who identified as traditional (5.2%) or secular (9%). Likewise, more traditional Jews viewed a career in law as desirable (16.2%), compared with secular Jews (8.4%) and ultra-Orthodox Jews (8.6%).