Data published by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics showed a large discrepancy between the wages of Jewish and Arab workers and a staggering increase in the poverty rate among Arabs.
The average gross monthly wage for Jews was 11,191 shekels, versus 7,338 for Arabs. Israeli Arabs earned on average just 65.6% of their Jewish counterparts’ income, although this marked a slight improvement over 2017’s 64.4%. On an hourly basis the difference was 65.60 shekels to 41.70 shekels.
For Jewish men, monthly average pay was 13,558 shekels in 2018, compared with 8,190 for an Arab male, a difference of 39.6%. That was an improvement over 2017 when the difference was 40.3%. In any case, on an hourly basis the difference was wider at 40.9%.
The data indicated that the Arab woman receives the blow twice, once as a woman and again as an Arab citizen.
For women, the pay differential was a narrower 35.9%, with Jewish women earning an average of 8,923 shekels monthly and Arab women making 5,722. It narrowed from 37.4% in 2017. On an hourly basis was 32% in 2018 because Jewish women worked 2.4 hours on average more per week than Arab women.
The percentage of wage men in Israel is 51.6% and women 48.4%. The average monthly income of a male employee was 12,498 shekels, compared to 8,546 shekels for wage women, which means that the gap here is 31.6%.
