[[{"content_id":"122958","domain_id":"0","lang_id":"en","portal_id":"2","owner_id":"29","user_id":"1","view_accesslevel_id":"0","edit_accesslevel_id":"0","delete_accesslevel_id":"0","editor_id":"0","content_title":"Israel's middle class, disappearing","content_number":"0","content_date_event":"2013-11-25 14:15:31","content_summary":"The middle class is in trouble all over the world, and now the problem has reached Israel, too. Here's why.","content_summary_fill":"0","content_body":"The hundreds of thousands who took to the streets in the summer of 2011 were protesting against the cost of living in Israel and the erosion of the middle class.\r\n\t\r\n\tThe protesters, who for the most part themselves belonged to the middle class, were decrying the fact that they had difficulty living in dignity and were almost unable to make ends meet.\r\n\t\r\n\tTwo years after the social protest, an accumulation of economic data supports the protesters. The data indicate that the middle class in Israel is gradually weakening and has almost disappeared.\r\n\t\r\n\tThe figures come from researchers at the Taub Institute for Social Policy Studies in Israel, Prof. Dan Ben-David and Prof. Ayal Kimhi.\r\n\t\r\n\tThey conducted different analyses, which led to a similar conclusion: The problem in Israel is not the wealthiest people, and surprisingly, nor even the poorest. The problem is actually focused on the middle class.\r\n\t\r\n\tThe first surprising statistic is that inequality in Israel does not stem from the establishment of a narrow and very wealthy class of oligarchs − there is almost no such group here.\r\n\t\r\n\tThe percentage of income represented by the top 100th percentile, 6.3% gross (5.3% net − after taxes and allowances) ranks them only in eighth place among the developed countries. The concentration of wealth in Israel is lower than that in Norway, Finland and Germany.\r\n\t\r\n\tThe problem is revealed when we subtract the extremes in Israeli society, in other words the top and bottom 10%.\r\n\t\r\n\tThe gaps, which exist throughout the ranking, become evident when we compare the income of those in the 90th percentile with that of median workers and those in the 10th percentile.\r\n\t\r\n\tTo put it simply, the income gaps in Israel between the wealthy and the median worker, between the median and the weak and between the upper and lower middle class is the highest in the developed world. The meaning is clear: The problem of inequality in Israel is not concentrated only on the wealthiest group.\r\n\t\r\n\tKimhi explains this by the inequality in the Israeli job market.\r\n\t\r\n\tBy concentrating only on those who are employed rather than on the entire population, he discovered the phenomenon of the “disappearing middle class” in the Israeli job market, too. It turns out that the (gross) salary ratio between the median worker and the worker in the 10th percentile in Israel is very high, but is clearly declining.\r\n\t\r\n\tThat means that the gap between the middle class and the low-wage worker is gradually narrowing. The situation of the high-wage workers (90th percentile and above) improved very little, while that of low-wage workers (35th percentile and below) improved greatly.\r\n\t\r\n\tOn the other hand, the situation of the 6th-8th deciles (the 55th-85th percentiles) deteriorated. The wage of an employee in the 70th percentile eroded by an average of 0.3% annually during that period. Over 14 years that is a considerable cumulative erosion.\r\n\t\r\n\tKimhi’s figures, in other words, reinforce the uncomfortable feeling of the Israeli middle class − it really has eroded. That’s a fact.","content_html":"

\r\n\tThe hundreds of thousands who took to the streets in the summer of 2011 were protesting against the cost of living in Israel and the erosion of the middle class.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThe protesters, who for the most part themselves belonged to the middle class, were decrying the fact that they had difficulty living in dignity and were almost unable to make ends meet.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tTwo years after the social protest, an accumulation of economic data supports the protesters. The data indicate that the middle class in Israel is gradually weakening and has almost disappeared.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThe figures come from researchers at the Taub Institute for Social Policy Studies in Israel, Prof. Dan Ben-David and Prof. Ayal Kimhi.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThey conducted different analyses, which led to a similar conclusion: The problem in Israel is not the wealthiest people, and surprisingly, nor even the poorest. The problem is actually focused on the middle class.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThe first surprising statistic is that inequality in Israel does not stem from the establishment of a narrow and very wealthy class of oligarchs − there is almost no such group here.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThe percentage of income represented by the top 100th percentile, 6.3% gross (5.3% net − after taxes and allowances) ranks them only in eighth place among the developed countries. The concentration of wealth in Israel is lower than that in Norway, Finland and Germany.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThe problem is revealed when we subtract the extremes in Israeli society, in other words the top and bottom 10%.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThe gaps, which exist throughout the ranking, become evident when we compare the income of those in the 90th percentile with that of median workers and those in the 10th percentile.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tTo put it simply, the income gaps in Israel between the wealthy and the median worker, between the median and the weak and between the upper and lower middle class is the highest in the developed world. The meaning is clear: The problem of inequality in Israel is not concentrated only on the wealthiest group.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tKimhi explains this by the inequality in the Israeli job market.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tBy concentrating only on those who are employed rather than on the entire population, he discovered the phenomenon of the “disappearing middle class” in the Israeli job market, too. It turns out that the (gross) salary ratio between the median worker and the worker in the 10th percentile in Israel is very high, but is clearly declining.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tThat means that the gap between the middle class and the low-wage worker is gradually narrowing. The situation of the high-wage workers (90th percentile and above) improved very little, while that of low-wage workers (35th percentile and below) improved greatly.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tOn the other hand, the situation of the 6th-8th deciles (the 55th-85th percentiles) deteriorated. The wage of an employee in the 70th percentile eroded by an average of 0.3% annually during that period. Over 14 years that is a considerable cumulative erosion.
\r\n\t
\r\n\tKimhi’s figures, in other words, reinforce the uncomfortable feeling of the Israeli middle class − it really has eroded. That’s a fact.<\/p>","content_source":null,"content_url":null,"content_columns":"0","content_date_start":"2013-11-25 14:15:31","content_date_finish":"2013-11-25 14:15:31","content_date_register":"2013-11-25 14:15:31","content_date_last_edit":"0000-00-00 00:00:00","content_show_img":"1","content_show_details":"1","content_show_related_img":"1","content_show_slider":"1","content_show_title_slider":"1","content_comment":"0","content_score":"0","content_recorded":"0","content_confirmed":"1","content_status":"1","content_kind":"0","old_id":"121217","tag_id":null,"tag_word":null,"tag_service":null,"tag_total":null,"tag_soundex":null,"attach_token":"1931347112","attach_date_register":"2013-11-25 14:15:35","attach_id":"115390","attach_file_ext":"jpg","attach_file_header":"image\/jpeg","attach_img_type":"2","attach_img_width":"320","attach_img_height":"120","attach_file_media":"1","attach_show_watermark":"0","score_average":null,"score_count":null,"score_date_last":null,"visit_count":"210","visit_date_last":"2025-05-10 07:46:01","attach_title":"Israel's middle class, disappearing","node_title":"Commentaries","ot_node_left_right":"[{\"node_id\":134, \"left\":25, \"right\":26}]"}]]