This is what the head of the Industrialists' Association, Shraga Brosh, says ● According to him, the loss of knowledge accumulated among the professional workforce in the high-tech industry causes damage to the Israeli economy estimated at more than 6.5 billion shekels per year
By Yossi Hatoni and John Ben Zaken, ThePeople editorial team, DailyMaily
President of the Manufacturers Association, Shraga Brosh
More than 25 thousand high-tech people have moved to work in electronics and software companies in the US in the last seven years, due to the ongoing cuts in the R&D budget; This is what Shrega Brosh, president of the Manufacturers' Association, estimated following an inspection conducted by the Manufacturers' Association. In an interview with DailyMaily, Brosh said that the loss of knowledge accumulated among the professional workforce in the high-tech industry causes damage to the Israeli economy estimated at more than NIS 6.5 billion per year. According to Brosh, the calculation is done by examining their total economic value for the year, according to the average salary level in the hi-tech industries.
Brosh added that the ongoing cuts in R&D budgets, of approximately 4.5 billion shekels since 2000, resulted in quite a few factories moving their research and development activities to different countries in the world, "where much better conditions are provided. This results in damage to the Israeli economy and industry." According to Brosh, the cut in the R&D budget also caused a loss of exports of more than 10 billion dollars, when every billion dollars in exports creates employment for 15 thousand workers.
From the inspection of the economics department of the manufacturers' association, it also emerged that compared to the competing countries in Israel, the rate of government support for R&D in the business sector in Israel is low. Government support in Israel as a percentage of total business R&D is only 5%. This is compared to 20% support, which was customary in the years 1990-1996. In an international comparison, Israel is in 17th place among the developed countries, after countries such as Poland, with a support rate of 12.6%, Italy (12.2%), the Czech Republic (12.1%) and France (10.3%). Israel is also after Great Britain, USA, Norway, New Zealand, Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Korea and Portugal. "This is a grim situation, which is getting worse and worse and leads to long-term economic damages," said Brosh.
And what needs to be done to change the situation?
"I am in contact with government ministries on a regular basis. This is not my first cry. I hereby call on the Minister of Finance, Roni Bar-On, to increase the R&D budget for 2008 to two billion shekels. This, compared to 1.2 billion shekels today. In addition, I propose that from this budget, NIS 300 million will be set aside for the benefit of traditional industry. Against the background of the low productivity in the branches of traditional industry in Israel and its contribution to employment, I propose to exempt this industry from paying royalties for the next three years.
The officials in the various government ministries must understand - there is no vacuum situation. Every job that is not filled in Israel, there are many countries that are happy to take in the workers, the USA being the first. I have already met and talked with the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and with senior officials in the Treasury and government ministries who deal with this every day. This is very clear: the reason for the brain drain is the ongoing cut in the research and development budget."
Budget 2008: a cut alongside an addition
Last week it became known that the chief scientist's budget is expected to reach approximately 1.18 billion shekels in 2008 - a cut of 17.5% compared to the 1.24 billion shekels allocated to him in 2007, assuming the Knesset approves the current budget proposal for 2008. Despite this, the budget proposal also includes a special addition of NIS 161 million - a type of internal "debt repayment" between the ministries of finance and the Ministry of Finance.
In 2003, the Treasury reached an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on a three-year plan to increase the chief scientist's budget. Accordingly, the increase in 2007 was supposed to amount to approximately 200 million shekels, but due to budget cuts following the Lebanon War, the scientist's budget was increased by only 50 million shekels. Now, in the current budget proposal for 2008, the aforementioned amount is included in an addition of NIS 11 million.
A senior official at the Office of the Chief Scientist told DailyMaily last week that he was pleasantly surprised by the Treasury's decision to transfer an additional NIS 161 million to the office. At the same time, the source said, he regrets the need to make a 17.5% horizontal cut in the state budget. "In the Chief Scientist's office, we accept the news humbly," he explained.
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And look what happens to the high-tech workers who try to return to Israel from the USA. Here is the story of one who went through this and had to return to the USA with his tail between his legs after he could not find a job. In the US, of course, he found a job within three weeks.
http://proctolog.blogspot.com/2006/06/blog-post.html
The question is why?
And the reasons are:
1. High taxation. (Before I left the country I paid 59% tax, why? Today I pay after all expenses 10-15% tax)
2. Accepting graduates only from universities, with the exception of Ben Gurion. (Another name for this selection is sectarianism. For every Mizrahi key there are 19 Ashkenazim. Fact)
3. The employer's requirements for working long hours (which is not the case in the US at 5 in the evening everyone is out of the company).
In short, until this country realizes that it is suffocating everyone, there will be no people here and no citizens to control them.