Teachers represent 6.5% of Israel’s workforce

The median gross salary for teaching posts in primary schools and middle schools in Israel is NIS 14,246 monthly, according to a report on pay in the education system just released by Ministry of Finance, as Israel’s schools prepare to reopen after the summer break.

The mean average salary for all teaching posts is NIS 16,622. There are almost 132,000 teaching posts in the education system, but many teachers (especially young teachers) work part time, which brings the median average salary down to NIS 13,385 and the mean average to NIS 14,672. There are almost 150,000 teachers in Israel, representing 6.5% of the total workforce.

The latest pay agreement, signed with the Teachers Union three years ago, considerably narrowed the gap between young and veteran teachers in the education system. Before the agreement, teachers in their third year, for example, earned 62.8% of the pay of a veteran teacher (with an average of over five years of service). The figure is now 73%. This is because most of the pay rise in the agreement was in absolute shekel terms rather than a percentage, and was therefore higher as a proportion of the existing salary for teachers on low pay. Young teachers received a 28% rise, and those with three years service 30%, while for veteran teachers the rise in percentage terms was only 10-15%.

Teachers who stayed in the education system between the 2016-2017 school year to the 2023-2024 year saw their salaries rise by an average of 60% over the period.

Problem is quality, not quantity

Not only has teachers’ pay risen, but also the number of teachers. According to the Ministry of Finance report, “In the past decade, the number of jobs in the education system has grown by 31%, almost double the rate of growth in the number of pupils, which was just 14.8%.” The reason is the reduction in class sizes, which naturally means that more teachers are required. The result is that teachers now represent 6.5% of the workforce, versus 5.5% a decade ago.

This is a large proportion, required because of the high birthrate in Israel, in addition to the demand for small classes. “On the face of it, these figures present an opposite trend to the reports of a shortage of teachers, requiring special solutions to the challenges of human capital alongside measures to make the teaching workforce more efficient and to raise its quality.”

In other words, the problem is not the quantity of teachers as such, but rather their quality. As more teachers are recruited, greater compromises are needed on quality. In addition, the cost to the state budget is very high. The salary cost of teachers from kindergarten to middle school alone is NIS 35 billion annually, about half of the total education budget. Together with the high school teachers, who are not covered by the report, teachers’ salaries represent the vast majority of the education budget.

In fact, the number of teachers in Israel is so high, that the number of pupils to each teaching post is just 11.4, which compares with 13 a decade ago, and 13-14 on average in the OECD countries. This does not however find expression in class sizes, because of the high number of school days in the Israeli system. Primary school pupils in Israel attend school for 209 days a year, which compares with an average of 186 days in the OECD. The number of teaching hours in Israel is also high: 918 hours a year for a primary school pupil in Israel, versus an OECD average of just 805.

In general, according to the Ministry of Finance, teachers in Israel earn well. The pay of primary school teachers is 87% of the average for people with higher education in Israel, while the OECD average is only 81%.

The only OECD country in which teachers earn more than the average for people with higher education is Portugal, where teachers earn 20-40% more. And in a further international comparison, although the most recent wage agreement narrowed the gap between young and veteran teachers in Israel, it is still the second largest in the OECD, after South Korea.

Another dramatic change in the characteristics of teachers in the Israeli education system between kindergarten and middle school is that they are getting younger. A decade ago, the average age of teachers was 49.2, whereas now it is just 43. This is apparently because of the dramatic growth in the number of teachers, with the growth being mainly in young teachers.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on August 31, 2025.

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