Executive Search in Israel – 2019 Outlook
Regional Tensions Still Cloud the Future
The economy is expected to be buttressed by domestic forces. Private consumption should benefit from a lower tax burden and still-favorable financial conditions, while fixed investment should reap the fruits of new gas- and oil-related projects.
Regional tensions remain a key downside risk, however, clouding the outlook. Focus Economics Consensus Forecast panelists expect economic growth to moderate to 3.2% in 2019.
Natural gas development and higher wages will contribute to the forecasted growth, but OECD expresses concern about a continuing increase in housing prices
Unemployment is expected to stay around a low level of 4.0 – 4.2% over the next two years
Political
The coalition government of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has called early elections for April 2019. Despite questions over Mr. Netanyahu’s conduct, he is likely to emerge victorious, heading another coalition government.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions will persist but Iran will be viewed as the main external threat. Israel-US ties will strengthen. Real GDP growth will ease initially as global demand growth slows, before picking up with gas exports in 2021-23.
Even if the next government looks more or less like the current one, the decision to move up the election to April is a good development for the economy. Most of 2018 was run as a preparation for the election
Recruitment & Executive Search in Israel
There is a big question mark on what’s going to happen this year. Currently it is an “employees’ market”, characterized by high demands and rising salaries, especially in the hi-tech industry.
Startups are blooming, there is a lot of investment money coming from many countries interested in the opportunities in Israel and many global companies open R&D centers here. There is uncertainty whether this situation will continue in 2019, as the feeling is that it might be a bubble economy.
The traditional search is declining and social media is on the rise. It becomes more difficult to recruit and it is required to be more creative and active. If you used to post a position and get CV flow, now you have to use headhunting methods in order to get candidates.