A report presented to the Knesset and to President Moshe Katsav yesterday places Israel second in the Western world, after the United States, in terms of the discrepancies between the highest socioeconomic strata and the lowest. The study tracked the growing socioeconomic discrepancies between rich and poor in Israel over the past two years and proposed explanations for the phenomenon.
One indicator of the gap the report details is the concentration of private capital in the various sectors of society. According to the report, the wealthiest 10% of the population holds more than 70% of the private capital in the economy with the remaining 90% holding the remainder. Furthermore, the average gross family income in the top percentile of the country is 39,130 shekels per month, as compared with 3,225 shekels per month in the lowest - i.e., twelve times less.
The poorest sectors, according to the report, are the Bedouin, ultra-Orthodox and Ethiopian communities. Overall, the number of poor children in Israel rose by 50 percent over the past 14 years and the number of poor families went up by almost 30 percent. The study notes that increased government funding for social welfare programs (from 28% of the national budget 20 years ago, to 54% today) have had no effect on the widening and deepening poverty statistics.
The report suggests several steps to help effect change in the near term, including reducing the number of foreign workers through disincentives, implementing wage policies that encourage work rather than welfare dependence, increasing the number of Haredi men and Arab women in the work force, increasing taxation of capital gains and other initiatives designed to make gainful employment possible for more people. A long-term primary concern, is education reform, which would provide equitable opportunities for all, according to the report. The report was prepared with the assistance of the Central Bureau of Statistics and the National Insurance Institute.
One indicator of the gap the report details is the concentration of private capital in the various sectors of society. According to the report, the wealthiest 10% of the population holds more than 70% of the private capital in the economy with the remaining 90% holding the remainder. Furthermore, the average gross family income in the top percentile of the country is 39,130 shekels per month, as compared with 3,225 shekels per month in the lowest - i.e., twelve times less.
The poorest sectors, according to the report, are the Bedouin, ultra-Orthodox and Ethiopian communities. Overall, the number of poor children in Israel rose by 50 percent over the past 14 years and the number of poor families went up by almost 30 percent. The study notes that increased government funding for social welfare programs (from 28% of the national budget 20 years ago, to 54% today) have had no effect on the widening and deepening poverty statistics.
The report suggests several steps to help effect change in the near term, including reducing the number of foreign workers through disincentives, implementing wage policies that encourage work rather than welfare dependence, increasing the number of Haredi men and Arab women in the work force, increasing taxation of capital gains and other initiatives designed to make gainful employment possible for more people. A long-term primary concern, is education reform, which would provide equitable opportunities for all, according to the report. The report was prepared with the assistance of the Central Bureau of Statistics and the National Insurance Institute.