The average salary for Israeli employees fell to 13,506 shekels ($3,647) in April 2024, down from slightly over 14,000 shekels ($3,780) recorded in March, according to data released this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
This represents a 7.3% increase compared to April of last year but a notable decline from the previous month. Preliminary estimates for May indicate a further drop, with the average salary reaching 13,093 shekels ($3,535).
Additionally, the number of salaried positions in April stood at 3.965 million, reflecting a 0.2% decrease from March and a 0.8% decrease compared to April 2023.
The high-tech sector also experienced a significant downturn after several months of increases and record highs. The average salary in this sector was 31,976 shekels ($8,634) in April, an 8% increase from last year but a decrease from the all-time high average of 35,870 shekels ($9,685) recorded in March. The number of salaried positions in high-tech was 398,400, a 0.2% decrease from March 2024 but a 0.6% increase compared to April 2023.
The most substantial decrease in average salary within the high-tech sector was among programming and computer consultancy employees, whose average salary fell to 32,737 shekels ($8,839) compared to 38,308 shekels ($10,343) the previous month. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, this sector constitutes over 50% of high-tech employees. Research and development workers earned an average of 34,380 shekels ($9,283), while employees in computer, electronic and optical manufacturing earned 33,309 shekels ($8,993) on average.
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 the electricity and water sector at 21,859 shekels ($5,902).
At the bottom of the salary scale for March were employees in the hospitality and food services sector, with an average salary of 6,289 shekels ($1,698) per month, followed by various service employees earning 6,474 shekels ($1,748) and arts, entertainment and recreation workers (excluding artists) with a gross salary of 7,356 shekels ($1,986) per month.