The Adva Center, an Israeli non-partisan policy analysis institute, is one of a number of organizations examining gaps in Israeli society. Their research paints a painful picture of growing gaps between the rich and the poor in Israeli society. The "2011 Social Situation" report examines financial statistics for 2010.
The most significant data in the report show that there was a 10% increase in income in the top percentile, and a 30% increase in senior management salaries in Blue Chip Tel Aviv 25 companies, even though most households' income grew only a few percentage points in 2010, if at all.
According to the report, the annual income of most households in 2000-2010 has hardly grown, whereas the income of the top percentile has grown 19%. The Adva Center says that the rise in income, "is a result of the large increase in senior managers' salaries," among other reasons. For example, the salaries of managers in Tel Aviv 25 companies grew 142% between 2000 and 2010.
The Adva Center notes that in 2010, the average income of all households in Israel returned to 2008 levels, before the world financial crisis broke out. The greatest relative growth was recorded in the weakest five percentile of earners, which also sustained the heaviest losses in 2009.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 18, 2011
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