High-tech wages surge over 12% since the start of 2024
High-tech wages surge over 12% since the start of 2024
The average salary in high-tech in Israel was over $9,000 in March, an increase of 12.7% compared to January
The average gross salary in Israel crossed NIS 14,000 for the first time in March and reached NIS 14,108 ($3,800), according to an estimate published on Sunday by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). This marks an increase of 4.2% compared to the figure of 13,539 in February and a 3.5% rise compared to March of last year (NIS 13,625).
It should be noted that in the previous March, the increase in the average salary resulted, among other things, from the distribution of a NIS 6,000 ($1,615) grant to state employees as part of the collective wage agreement. This time there was an increase without such a one-time figure. The average salary for the entire year 2023 was NIS 12,857 ($3,459), an increase of almost 10% relative to the average salary last year (9.7%).
The average salary in high-tech also peaked in March, reaching NIS 33,964 ($9,137). This is an increase of 12.7% compared to January (NIS 30,126) and 13.2% compared to February 2023 (NIS 30,011). The increase in wages for research and development (R&D) employees greatly contributed to the jump in high-tech, with their salaries standing at 44,670 shekels ($12,018), compared to an average of 32,623 ($8,777) shekels last year - a jump of 37%. About 52,000 people in Israel are employed in R&D in high-tech, which is 13.2% of the total employees in the industry.
In the field of programming, the NIS 35,000 barrier was crossed for the first time, with the average salary for a programmer in February reaching NIS 35,182 ($9,465) - a 12.3% increase compared to the average salary of NIS 31,333 ($8,430) in 2023 as a whole. Some 213,000 people in Israel work in high-tech programming, which is 53.5% of the employees in the industry.
The flash estimate of the number of salaried jobs in the economy in March stands at 3.963 million, an increase of 1% compared to 3.923 million in February but still 1.8% lower than the 4.034 million in March 2023. The number of jobs in high-tech was 397,700 in February, almost unchanged compared to January (398,200) and a slight decrease of 0.2% compared to February 2023 (398,300). Salaried jobs in the high-tech sector accounted for 10.1% of all salaried jobs in the economy in February, similar to January 2024 (10.2%). It should be noted that this calculation does not include tech jobs in other industries.
