Doctors biggest earners in Israel’s public sector
Annual Finance Ministry report shows government employees make 75% more than national average
Senior doctors and medical administrators take home the largest salaries among employees in the public sector, a report released on Tuesday said, and overall government employees earn roughly 75% more than the national average.
The report, issued by the Finance Minister’s wages commissioner, also published the salaries of the IDF chief of staff and police commissioner and pointed to a large wage gap between male and female workers in the public sector.
The average monthly salary of government employees was NIS 15,611 ($4,000) per month, whereas the national average was NIS 9,030 ($2,376) per month before taxes.
The highest monthly salary was afforded to a director of a Clalit medical clinic at NIS 124,000 ($31,000). A Clalit ophthalmologist took second place at NIS 116,000 ($29,000) per month. The director of vascular medicine at Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center, who was ranked number one in last year’s report, came in third at NIS 113,000 ($28,000). All figures referred to gross profits.
Of the top 50 highest earning employees in the public sector, 47 are employees of Clalit, Channel 2 reported. The average salary among medical professionals overall stands at NIS 33,087 ($8,000) a month.
Meanwhile, employees of the Israel Airports Authority are also ranked high. Of the top ten highest paid employees, IAI CEO Yossi Weiss, who earns NIS 108,000 ($27,000) monthly was the only one who was not a Clalit worker. Eleven of the 100 top paid employees work for the IAI.
The report pointed to a large wage gap between men and women, with only four of the top 50 highest paid workers in the public sector being women, and only 11 out of the top 100. On average, men earn between NIS 2,000-NIS 6,000 ($500-$1,500) more than women, the report said.
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz received NIS 81,653 ($20,000) a month last year, while police commissioner Yohanan Danino’s monthly salary was slightly higher, at NIS 85,163 ($21,000).
Among port workers in Haifa and Ashdod, and at the Bank of Israel, the average salary hovers around NIS 28,000 ($7000) a month. The average salary among employees of the Israel Electric Corporation stands at NIS 24,000 ($6,100).
The salaries report was released after a series of poverty reports, one of which maintained that 1.6 million Israelis live under the poverty line, while another said 2.5 million Israelis were poor.
