The average national gross salary in Israel fell by 5.7% in February 2005 to NIS 7,004, or NIS 424 less than in January, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported yesterday.
The average gross salary fell by 10%, or NIS 763, between December 2004 and February 2005. However, the average gross wage was the same as in February 2004.
The Central Bureau of Statistics reports that 28% of wage-earners, over 661,000 people, earned an average gross salary of NIS 1,931, 72% less than the average national wage, and 60% less than the legally-mandated minimum wage.
An additional 165,000 wage-earners earned an average gross salary of NIS 6,343 in February, 10% less than the average national salary. On the other hand, 1.65 million wage-earners earned an average gross salary of NIS 9,220 in February, 32% above the average national salary. An additional 117,000 wage-earners worked two jobs, earning an average gross salary of NIS 7,363 in February, 5% above the average national salary.
Legal foreign workers earned an average salary of NIS 3,799 in February, 46% less than the average national salary. There were 64,400 legal foreign workers in Israel. 11,200 Palestinians were employed in Israel through the Israel National Employment Service in February. The average national salary in February, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers, was NIS 6,899, 1.5% less than the average national salary of Israelis.
Israel had 2.39 million wage-earners in February. The number of wage-earners grew by an annualized 1.2% in January-February. Nevertheless, the figures indicate that the number of Israeli employees fell by 2,100, or 0.1%, in February, and by 32,700, or 3.3%, in December-February.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on May 9, 2005