Israel
Source of the series
Reports to the National Insurance Institute (NII) and other administrative sources.
Title of the series
Employee Posts and Wages.
Organization responsible
Data collection:
National Insurance Institute (NII).
Statistical processing and publication/dissemination of the statistics:
Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
Main topics covered
Employment and earnings.
Periodicity or frequency of availability of the statistics
Monthly.
Reference period
The whole month.
Coverage of the statistics
Geographical:
the whole country.
Industrial:
all economic activities, except households employing domestic services.
Establishments:
all types and sizes of establishments with one or more employees.
Persons:
all employees who worked at least one day in the surveyed month in the establishments concerned, including members of co-operatives, civil workers of the defence forces, and employees from Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Area and from South Lebanon (only those who received their wages through the payment administration of the Employment Service) who work in Israel. Also included are workers from other countries on whom reports are submitted to the National Insurance Institute.
Domestic help workers, kibbutz members working in the kibbutz or in establishments owned by the kibbutz, pupils in vocational and agricultural schools and pupils in institutions for vocational training are excluded.
Occupations:
data are not collected by occupation or occupational group.
Concepts and definitions
Employment:
refers to the number of employees (permanent and temporary) on the pay-list of establishments or institutions, who worked, or were on paid absence due to illness, vacation, army reserve duty, etc. in the surveyed month at least one day.
Employees appearing on the pay-list of more than one establishment or institution in that month are counted as many times as they appeared in the pay-lists, so that the data refer to the number of employee posts for which wages were paid in that month.
Earnings:
refer to gross monthly earnings. They include basic wages, cost of living allowance, seniority allowance, back-pay for previous periods, advance payments, overtime pay, premiums, bonuses and various allowances (current or non-recurrent), such as stand-by, turn-on duty, 13th month salary, fare, recreation allowance, education allowance, recompense for supplementary occupational studies and vehicle maintenance.
Excluded are other labour expenses and sums paid by the employer to funds such as pension funds or employees’ insurance, parallel tax and employers’ tax.
Classifications
Branch of economic activity (industry):
Title of the classification:
Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, 1993.
Number of groups used for coding:
not available.
Applied to:
employment and earnings.
Link to ISIC and level:
Rev.3.
Other classifications:
employment and earnings data are classified by citizenship (Israeli and foreigners).
Data collection
Size and coverage of the administrative system:
not available.
Data collection method:
data on employment and wages are based mainly on the monthly processing of employers’ reports (according to the law) on forms 102 (for Israelis) and 612 (for workers from abroad) to the National Insurance Institute (NII), and partly, on other administrative sources, such as the payment administration of the Employment Service, Malam, the Israel Local Authorities Data Processing Center and the defence forces.
Data on wages and employment in local authorities (municipalities, local councils and regional councils) are based on files of the Israel Local Authorities Data Processing Center and other sources.
Employers’ reports are maintained in a central employer card file at the NII. The sample frame is mainly based on this file, and other establishments from samples kept in the CBS and from other sources are added to the frame. The universe is stratified by major economic branch and size of establishment. In each size group of economic branch, a sample of active establishments is drawn, with different sampling fractions.
The sample is updated by exclusion of establishments which cease operating and inclusion of a sample of newly opened establishments. No consideration is given to changes in size of establishments during the updating time. The sample is renewed every few years. The present data are based on the January 1995 sample.
As regards employee posts of foreign workers: in 1994, the data were based on a census of all employers who reported on foreign workers (excluding paid attendants employed by households and reported by their employers as domestic help workers). As of 1995, data are based on a sample of establishments that was drawn from all establishments which report on foreign workers (form 612). The frame was created for 1995 and is updated by adding new establishments that began to employ foreign workers. A sample of additions is drawn and added regularly to the main sample. Establishments which cease to employ foreign workers are not included in the calculations.
Data processing, editing and consistency checks
Monthly estimates for the current year are revised based on additional or corrected employers’ reports which arrive later from the National Insurance Institute.
Adjustments
Seasonal variations:
the X-11-ARIMA/2000 Seasonal Adjustment Method developed by Statistics Canada is used. The prior adjustment factors were calculated using the special method developed by the Central Bureau of Statistics for estimating the effects of the changing Jewish festival dates and the trading days in Israel.
Types of estimates
Totals of employee posts;
Average monthly wages per employee post: total monthly wages divided by the number of employee posts in a given month; at current and constant prices. It follows from the definition of employee posts that the average monthly wage per employee post is lower than the average monthly wage per employee.
Average net wages in local authorities: gross monthly wages minus deductions to the NII (including health insurance as of January 1995) and to Income Tax.
Separate estimates are produced, including and excluding workers from Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Area.
Construction of indices
Indices of employee posts and wages are computed monthly.
The index of total wages at constant prices is calculated by dividing the index of total wages at current prices by the consumer price index of the respective month on the base 1994=100. Annual, quarterly, etc. estimates are the average of monthly indices at constant prices.
The index of average wage per employee post at constant prices is calculated by dividing the index of total wages at constant prices by the index of employee posts.
The trend is calculated using the Henderson moving averages method.
Indicators of reliability of the estimates
Not available.
Available series
Employee posts, total wages and average monthly wage per employee post, at current and constant prices;
Seasonally-adjusted series;
Trend and monthly percent change of trend.
History of the statistics
Starting date of the statistical series:
1961.
Major changes and revisions:
as of January 1995, the statistics are based on a new sample of establishments. Previous data were based on the 1979 sample which was updated in 1983 and in 1986. During the period April 1995 - beginning of 1997, the reports on wages on form 612 were partial: some amounts, reaching nearly NIS 900 per month, were not included. During 1997, some employers began reporting on the whole amounts.
Prior to 1993, data were classified according to the Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, 1970.
Documentation and dissemination
Documentation:
Central Bureau of Statistics: Monthly Bulletin of Statistics (Jerusalem);
Idem: Supplement to the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics (ibid.)
Idem: Statistical Abstract of Israel (ibid. Annual);
Detailed methodological information on definitions, sources of data, methods of data collection and processing, and limitations of the data, can be found in the Statistical Abstract of Israel, No. 51, 2000.
Dissemination:
on the CBS web-site: http://www.cbs.gov.il (shows both data and methodological notes). Data which do not appear in national publications or on the website can be obtained upon request.
Data supplied to the ILO for dissemination
The following data are supplied to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics:
Paid employment by economic activity and in manufacturing, by industry group;
Average monthly earnings by economic activity and in manufacturing, by industry group.
The corresponding monthly data are published in the Bulletin of Labour Statistics.