The average gross monthly salary of Israeli employees has risen by 4% in March, reaching NIS 9,121 ($2,350), the Central Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday. The number of hired employees in the country totaled 3.081 million.
Employees of the Israel Electric Corp. and Mekorot, the national water company, were deemed the best-paid workers in March; their salaries averaged NIS 23,548 ($6,050) a month. Financial services employees earned NIS 18,000 ($4,650) on average that month, while workers in the manufacturing industry were paid NIS 13,224 ($3,400). Public employees made NIS 12,840 (3,300) on average.
On the bottom rungs of the pay scale were farming and hospitality workers, who earned NIS 5,947 ($1,550) and NIS 4,192 ($1,050), respectively.
The number of jobs in the public sector have risen by 4.4% between January and March, in line with the 4% growth that registered in the period between October and December of the previous year. The number of positions in the hospitality and food services field, which dropped by 1.9% over the last three months of 2011, continued to decrease by 2.6% in January-March of 2012.