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.