Study: Economic surge benefits top percentiles
ADVA center for social equality reports disconcerting figures regarding Israeli social gaps. Report finds economic growth limited to top percentiles while remaining public trails behind
The economic surge so boasted about by the Ministry of Finance is limited only to top two percentiles – this according to the annual report made public Sunday by the ADVA Center for Israeli Social Justice and Equality.
The report warns that without an initiative to cut back the gaps – Israel's ability to continue growing on such a scale will be damaged in the long run.
The state leadership and financial bodies hang all their hopes and promises - for closing the gaps and raising the quality of life - on the aforementioned growth. However last year's growth only served to widen the inequality.
In 2005 the Israeli GNP grew by 5.2 percent and the GNP per capita reached USD 18,723 – surpassing the record set in 2000 on the eve of the second intifada.
The only social grouping in Israel to benefit from this growth is the top two percentiles, while the rest of the populace continues to lag far behind.
The top percentile's portion of the income pie reached 28.3 percent and the second percentile's portion stands at 16.4 percent.
The average top-percentile household income increased from NIS 38,355 per month in 2004 to NIS 39,671 per month in 2005. Comparatively the eighth percentile's share in the income pie remained the same while the bottom two percentiles' share dropped from 6.2 percent in 2003 to 6 percent in 2005.
Inequality between Mizrachi and Ashkenazi
The wage inequality can also be found between different demographics. The salary of the average urban Ashkenazi, which dropped during the intifada to 25 percent above the average wage, continued to rise until it returned to 39 percent above average in 2005.
The salary of the average urban Mizrachi remained unchanged and the salary of Arab salaried employees dropped, slightly, to 28 percent below average.
The report also says that while the education system is supposed to aid Israelis in joining the cycle of economic growth, the data compiled by the center is far from encouraging: 55.1 percent of high school seniors in 2005 failed to achieve the necessary marks for a diploma – primarily in Arab and development towns.
The gaps expectedly proceed into the realms of higher education as well: the admission rate of university students from well-to-do communities is almost three times higher than students from lesser-privileged communities (standing at 28.2 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively).
