The average salary of an Israeli employee fell to 13,506 shekels ($3,647) in April 2024, from just over 14,000 shekels ($3,780) recorded in March, according to data released this week by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.
This represents a 7.3% increase from April of last year, but a notable decrease from the previous month. Preliminary estimates for May show a further decrease, with the average salary expected to reach 13,093 shekels ($3,535).
In addition, the number of wage earners in April was 3,965,000, down 0.2% from the previous month and 0.8% from April 2023.
The high-tech sector also experienced a significant drop after months of increases and record highs. The average salary in the sector was 31,976 shekels ($8,634) in April, 8% higher than last year but down from the all-time average of 35,870 shekels ($9,685) recorded in March. The number of salaried jobs in the high-tech sector was 398,400, down 0.2% from March 2024 but up 0.6% compared to April 2023.
The biggest declines in average salaries in the high-tech sector were seen among programming and computer consultancy employees, whose average salary fell to 32,737 shekels ($8,839) from 38,308 shekels ($10,343) in the previous month. This sector accounts for more than 50 percent of high-tech employees, according to the Central Statistics Agency. The average salary of research and development employees was 34,380 shekels ($9,283), while the average salary of computer, electronic and optical manufacturing employees was 33,309 shekels ($8,993).
By industry, the highest average salary in March was in the information and communications sector at 30,576 shekels ($8,256), followed by financial and insurance services at 29,274 shekels ($7,904) and electricity and water at 21,859 shekels ($5,902).
Hospitality and food service workers had the lowest pay levels in March, with an average salary of 6,289 shekels ($1,698) per month, followed by miscellaneous service employees who earned 6,474 shekels ($1,748) and arts, entertainment and recreation workers (excluding artists) with a total monthly salary of 7,356 shekels ($1,986).
