The IDF website reports a decline in the number of army recruits this year, pinning the lowest recruitment rate in eight years on slower immigration and a low birth rates in 1994, when the 2012 generation was born.
This year manpower shortage in the IDF will reach a peak, after a steady decline of 7.5 percent in recruiting both men and women since 2004.
However, the next decade will see a gradual increase in rates of recruitment. The IDF Manpower Management Section’s Planning Division and Personnel Management (HATUMHA) is working on various projects designed to address the issue, such as special tracks for religious women, a multi-year recruitment plan for technicians, expanding the scope of Ultra Orthodox recruitment and the recruitment of special populations.
“It is a time of draught, when resources are fewer, but it will change the future,” noted Head of Combat Resources Planning Maj. Kobi Levi, who pointed out that “precisely at this time the army is undergoing significant intensification and its need for growth is expanding.”
