According to the results of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) 2018 Household Expenses Survey, the average (gross) monthly income of male salaried employees in Jerusalem was NIS 9,620, as compared to NIS 7,380 for women. In other words, in Jerusalem, a female salaried employee earned 77% of every shekel of income earned by a male salaried employee. The ratio is smaller in Israel in general, in Tel Aviv and in Haifa: the income ratio between male and female salaried employees in Haifa is 70% (NIS 12,780 for men as compared to NIS 8,930 for women), in Israel as a whole it’s 68% (NIS 12,500 as compared to NIS 8,550), while in Tel Aviv it’s 63% (NIS 18,200 as compared to NIS 11,380).

Between 2008 and 2018, the average income earned by male salaried employees in Jerusalem rose by 16%, as compared to 25% among female salaried employees in the city, hence the gap in the ratio narrowed, with the income ratio of women to men rising from 71% in 2008 to 77% in 2018. During this period the income gap between female and male salaried employees in Israel in general diminished from 63% in 2008 to 68% in 2018. In Haifa the ratio diminished from 62% in 2008, to 70% in 2018. However, in Tel Aviv, the ratio increased from 65% in 2008 to 63% in 2018 (it should be noted that according to the data from the CBS there was a surge in the salary of male employees in Tel Aviv, which is the source of the gap. For comparison’s sake, in 2017 the income ratio between female and male salaried employees in Tel Aviv was 72%).

One of the main reasons for the gaps is that the number of weekly hours worked by male employees is higher than the number worked by women. In Jerusalem, the average number of hours worked per week by a man was 43, as compared to 34 weekly hours worked by a woman. On average, a male salaried employee in Israel, in Tel Aviv and in Haifa, worked 45 hours a week as compared to 37 hours per week for a female salaried employee in Israel in general, 39 hours per week in Tel Aviv, and 38 hours a week in Haifa.

Translated by Gilah Kahn-Hoffmann