DEFINITIONS
1. High-Tech Industry
The definition of the High-Tech Industry in this paper is similar to the definition of American
Electronic Association (AEA) (RoundTable media, 1999) and corrected by the conclusions
from research of Baldwin and Gellatly (Baldwin & Gellatly, 1998).
Practically, we based our definition on the Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic
Activities (SIC) (Central Bureau of Statistics [CBS], 1993) and the employers’ files of the
National Insurance Institute.
The definition based on three principals:
1. The definition must be practical i.e. useful and possible for measurement.
2. The definition must be comparable to acceptable international definitions.
3. The definition should be dynamic and flexible i.e. every 2-3 years we need to
examine the economic activities and if they change effect appropriate changes in
the High-Tech Industry.
We do not have a separate code of economic activity for biotechnology in the Israeli SIC
(CBS, 1993), but the biotechnology firms were include in the definition of the High-Tech
Industry under the category of research and development in natural and social sciences and
humanities activities.
The following is the definition of High-Tech Industry according to Israeli SIC:
Manufacturing in High-Tech
•
30 - Office and accounting machinery and computers
•
32 - Electronical components
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33 - Electronic communication equipment
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34 - Industrial equipment for control and supervision, medical and scientific equipment
•
355 - Aircraft
Communications
•
66 - Communications
Computer and related services and R&D
•
72 - Computer and related services
•
73 - Research and development
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The
High-Tech
Industry
is
divided
into
three
sub-industries:
Manufacturing;
Communications; and Computer and related services and R&D.
Manufacturing in High-Tech includes manufacture of office machinery and computers; of
electronical components and semiconductors; of telecommunication, data-communication and
domestic electronic equipment; of industrial equipment for control and supervision, medical
and scientific equipment; of aircraft.
Communications includes National and other telecommunication services.
Computer and related services includes computer consultancy; programming and system
analysis services; data processing; data base and data storage activities; maintenance and
repair of computing, office and accounting machinery; computer related services not
specified.
R&D includes research and development in natural and social sciences and humanities.
2. High-Tech Occupations
The definition of High-Tech Occupations based on the Standard Classification of Occupations
(CBS, 1994)4 and include:
•
001 – Biologists and related professionals
•
002 – Pharmacologists
•
010 – Chemists
•
011 – Physicists and astronomers
•
012 – Geologists and geophysicists
•
013 – Mathematicians and actuaries
•
015 – System analysts and related computer professionals
•
023 – Electrical and electronics engineers
•
024 – Mechanical engineers
•
027 – Computer engineers
•
101 – Physical engineering technicians
•
121 – Electronic engineering technicians
•
122 – Mechanical engineering technicians
•
130 – Computer technicians and programmers
•
225 – Computer services managers
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B. Fefferman (Ministry of Labour and Welfare) in his article (Fefferman, 2000) also uses the same definition.
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3. Other definitions
In this paper we also used term definitions from Wage and Employment Indices and Labour
Force Surveys.
Wage and Employment Indices are an administrative data series based on reports to the
National Insurance Institute and other administrative sources.
•
Employee posts: The number of employees (permanent and temporary), on the payroll
of establishments or institutions, who worked (or were on paid leave due to illness,
vacation, army reserve duty, etc.) for at least one day during the surveyed month.
Employees on the payrolls of more than one establishment or institution in that month
were counted as many times as they appeared on the payroll, so that the data actually refer
to the number of posts for which wages were paid.
•
Gross monthly wages: Gross payments paid for all employee posts in a month,
including the basic wages, cost-of-living allowances, seniority payments, back-pay,
advance payments, overtime, premiums, various allowances – current or non-recurring,
such as: on-call, shift, 13th - month salary, transportation, vacation pay, education and
proficiency allowances, car allowance, etc. The gross wages do not include other labour
expenses and sums paid by the employer such as pension funds, insurance for employees,
parallel tax or employers' tax.
•
Average monthly wages per employee post: the gross monthly wages divided by the
number of employee posts in that month (it follows from the definition of employee posts,
that the average monthly wages per employee post is lower than the average monthly
wages per employee).
The Labour Force Survey is the principal survey of households conducted by the Central
Bureau of Statistics. The survey follows the development of the labour force in Israel, its size
and characteristics, the extent of unemployment, and other trends.
•
Employee - a person working for another person in exchange for daily or monthly
wages, piece work or work for any other kind of remuneration. Self-employed who are
registered as a company and receive their wages from that company are classified as
employees. This paper also includes member of cooperative - a person who, in addition to
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his salary, shares in the profits of a cooperative (this is also the case for a member of a
collective moshav5).
•
Employment Multiplier in the High-Tech Industry – a relative index, calculated as
ratio of the number of employees in non high-tech occupations in the High-Tech Industry
by the number of employees in high-tech occupations in High-Tech Industry.
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Rural localities, in which there are less than 2,000 residents, which are classified into three
types of localities: Kibbutzim; Moshavim and collective moshavim; Other rural localities.
For further details, see - List of Localities, Their Population and Codes, 31.12.1998, Technical
Series, no. 70, Central Bureau of Statistics.
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