Average wage down 4.2% in January, 
after rising 12% in December 

114,000 people held a second job in January 

by Zeev Klein  
Globes
April 6, 2005

The average gross salary has fallen 4.2%, or NIS 323, 
in January 2005 to NIS 7,439, the Central Bureau of Statistics 
reported today. The average gross salary rose by 12.1%, or 
NIS 837, in December. The average gross salary in January 
was 4.6%, or NIS 325, higher than the monthly average of 
NIS 7,114 in 2004. 

27% of wage-earners, 640,000 people, earned an average 
salary of NIS 1,927 in January, 74% less than the average 
national gross salary. An additional 166,000 people earned 
an average salary of NIS 6,629 in January, 11% less than 
the average national gross salary. 66% of wage-earners, 
1.59 million people, earned an average salary of NIS 9,749 
in January, 31% more than the average national gross salary. 

114,000 people held a second job in January, in an effort to 
increase their income. The average salary of this group was 
NIS 7,811 in January, 5% above the national average salary. 

There were 2.39 million wage-earners in Israel in January, 
plus 65,300 legal foreign workers registered with the National 
Insurance Institute, and 9,400 Palestinian workers working 
within the Green Line under employment arrangements. 

The Central Bureau of Statistics said that trend figures for 
December 2004-January 2005 indicated an annualized 
3.6% rise in the average national gross salary. Trend figures 
also indicate that the number of Israeli employees is rising 
by an annualized 2.4%, although most new jobs are 
part-time and low paying.