The gap between Israel’s rich and poor continues to widen. Average gross income of Israel’s top tenth reached NIS 39,671 a month in 2005, 12.1 times the average monthly income of Israel’s bottom tenth of NIS 3,279, according the Central Bureau of Statistics’s 2005 Income Survey, published today.
The survey covered 14,545 households, of which 9,222 households were headed by a wage-earner, 1,339 were headed by a self-employed person, and 3,984 were headed by an unemployed person.
The survey found that average gross monthly household income in 2005 was NIS 11,680. The average gross income of a household headed by a wage-earner was NIS 14,014, and the average gross income of a household headed by a self-employed person was NIS 15,766, 13% higher.
The Gini index rose 1.8% in 2005 to a coefficient of 0.387. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1; the closer the coefficient is to 0, the greater the income equality; conversely, the close the coefficient is to 1, the greater the income inequality. The Gini index in Israel has risen 4.6% since 2004, and 9.6% since the outbreak of the intifada in 2000. Average gross household income rose 2.8% in real terms in 2005; average gross income of a household headed by a wage-earner rose 1.6% in real terms, and average gross income of a household headed by a self-employed person rose 6%.
Israeli women still face discrimination in the labor market. Men’s average income was 58% higher than women’s in 2005: men’s average gross monthly income was NIS 8,574, compared with NIS 5,419 for women. The gap was narrower when calculated by hourly wage: men’s average hourly wage was NIS 44.90, 20% higher than women’s average hourly wage of NIS 37.42.
Average net monthly household income, after income and health taxes and National Insurance Institute levies, was NIS 9,438 in 2005. Average monthly net per capita income, the index for the standard of living, was NIS 3,450.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 24, 2006
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