While consumer goods' prices rise ,thousands of employees are being made redundant and others suffer pay cuts, the salaries of high-ranking civil servants are expected to rise.
Ministers, Knesset members, judges and other public servants will enjoy a pay rise of more than NIS 1,000 (roughly $258) a month as of January 1.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for instance, who currently earns NIS 46,000 (roughly $11,850) a month, is expected to get an additional NIS 1,150 (roughly $300), President Shimon Peres' monthly NIS 52,050 (roughly $13,400) will likely grow by NIS 1,562 (roughly $402); and MK Shaul Mofaz is set to recieve an additional NIS 1,043 (roughly $270) on top of his monthly NIS 41,730 (roughly $ 10,750).
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The reason for this increase is that senior public officials' wages are linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the average salary.
Since most laid-off employees had low incomes, the average salary has increased, causing an absurd situation where the more people are fired, the more public officials' pay rises.
- The average salary increased by 3% in the past year while the CPI rose by 2.1% in the past nine months. The CPI is expected to rise further reaching at least 2.5% by January 15.
The officials' pay rise is even more questionable, taking into account the upcoming elections which suspended Knesset sesssions until until March.