Average wage freeze ended at the beginning of 2023: Officials will get up to 13,000 NIs more a month

The average wage freeze in the economy due to the Corona crisis ended at the beginning of 2023 and the result - a huge jump in the wages of judges, members of the Knesset, ministers and other office holders, to the point of an addition of NIS 13,000 per month to the salary of the President of the Supreme Court, after a five-year freeze for those receiving the minimum wage.
According to the calculation made by the Central Bureau of Statistics and the National Insurance - the average wage determined in 2023 according to Section 1 of the National Insurance Law, according to which the salaries of senior officials are determined, is NIS 11,730, and the average wage determined according to Section 2 of the National Insurance Law, which is calculated slightly differently, according to which some allowances are determined The disability is NIS 11,870. That is, it is a jump of 12.5% compared to the average wage in 2020, before the freeze, which was NIS 10,428 and NIS 10,551 respectively, a slightly lower rate than the estimates which were close to 15%.
Determining the wage has several implications, the first of which is the update of the minimum wage starting with the salary for the month of April, since according to the law, the minimum wage is linked to at least 47.5% of the average wage determined according to section 1, and therefore it will increase by 272 NIS, and will be 5,572 NIS instead of 5,300. It should be noted that according to the "package deal", which was signed by the heads of the Ministry of Finance, the business sector and the Histadrut nearly a year ago but was not implemented, the minimum wage was supposed to increase already in the spring of last year by NIS 100 per month.
The public committee has not yet submitted its recommendations to the Knesset committee and since the discussion of its recommendations has not yet begun, and it is expected that its recommendations will also be opposed by the judges and possibly also by some members of the Knesset - it is doubtful whether it will be possible not to pay these senior officials the salary for the month of January 2023 (which will be paid on February 1) the derived salary increases From the calculation of the average wage increase in the economy.
The President of the Supreme Court for over five years, Judge Esther Hayut, will continue to receive the highest salary and will even increase the gap with the other senior officials: her salary in December 2022 was NIS 104,000. The president will receive a monthly salary increase of NIS 13,000, which will reach NIS 117,000 - a record salary ever in the public sector. Her salary will be more than double the salary of ministers and about 80% higher than the prime minister's salary.
President Yitzhak Herzog's salary is expected to increase this month from NIS 64,673 to NIS 72,744, an increase of about NIS 8,000.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's salary will increase to NIS 63,337 compared to NIS 56,345, the salary of the opposition leader, until last week the Prime Minister, MK Yair Lapid, will decrease compared to his tenure so far by about NIS 6,000. However, his salary as opposition chairman will be updated from NIS 50,673 to NIS 56,997 - a salary increase of more than NIS 7,000. Every minister in the government, including of course the appointed Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich who is supposed to guard the fund, will receive a monthly salary of NIS 56,997 compared to 50,673 Now, the salary of the members of the Knesset, whose number will soon increase by 20 new members due to the "Norwegian law", will be NIS 50,924, compared to NIS 45,274 until now - an increase of NIS 5,660 gross per month.
The average salary of all the judges, judges and cads currently stands at about 60 thousand shekels and there are 900 employees, who will also receive an increase of thousands of shekels.
The total annual cost of the increase for all the office holders listed here will be more than NIS 130 million, according to estimates, but there are hundreds more senior officials in the economy whose wages are expected to soar, including hundreds of heads of local authorities and their deputies, and hundreds of officials, ombudsmen, rabbis and heads of religious councils.
The third meaning is the updating of the disability allowances, and this according to the linkage to the average salary determined according to section 2 of the National Insurance Law. The increase in this salary was also about 12.5%, but the attached allowances will increase by 9.82%, this is due to the agreement with the organizations of the disabled with the Ministry of Finance, that the difference will be directed in favor of expanding entitlements in the disability allowance.
According to the announcement of the National Insurance, the general disability allowance for an individual, with a degree of complete incapacity, will increase from NIS 3,700 to NIS 4,063. Pension for a single person with an addition for a spouse increases from NIS 4,892 to NIS 5,373. A couple with a child will increase from NIS 5,846 to NIS 6,421. A couple with 2 children will go from NIS 6,800 to NIS 7,469. The allowances will be calculated automatically by the National Insurance, and will be deposited directly into the account without the need for any action on the part of those entitled to the allowances.
Children's allowances will increase starting in January, but unlike the general disability allowance, special services and disabled children allowance, it will increase according to the index - that is, by 5.3%. The amounts for the first child in the family will increase from NIS 156 to NIS 164. The second, third and fourth child of the family will earn the parents an allowance of NIS 207 instead of NIS 197. A fifth child or older will have the same as the first child - NIS 164.
A senior citizen's pension will also increase by only 5.3%. For a senior citizen, the pension will increase - NIS 1,680 instead of NIS 1,596. For a single person with an addition for a spouse - NIS 2,525 instead of NIS 2,398.
Additional allowances for those with income supplementation and income assurance will rise to the same extent.
Senior citizen allowances, disability allowances, special services, and a disabled child are expected to be deposited on 1/28/23, income support allowance is expected to be deposited on 1/12/23, children's allowance is expected to be deposited on 1/20/23.