The annual report on salary expenses in the defense system for 2021, published today (Wednesday) by the head of salaries at the Ministry of Finance, Kobi Bar Natan, presents a worrying picture regarding the pensions of those retiring from the IDF.
The average stipend in the IDF in 2021 was NIS 17,819 per month. The monthly stipend for a retiree with the rank of colonel is NIS 44,514, a lieutenant colonel NIS 39,098, a colonel - NIS 28,181, a lieutenant colonel - NIS 20,168, for the antis - NIS 15,622 per month.
IDF soldiers. (Those photographed have no relation to the article) // Archive photo: Ziv Koren,
The IDF begins paying these amounts from the age of retirement from permanent service, which in 2021 was only 44.9 years among officers and 50.3 years among noncommissioned officers. That is, those who are released from permanent service in the army are people of working age, most of whom also continue to work at the same time. According to the report, More than 75% of permanent army detectives, aged 42-67, are employed or have companies at the same time as receiving the allowance from the state.
What salary do they get "in citizenship"?
The Treasury's report shows that the average salary of regular army retirees, who were absorbed into the labor market in 2019, was NIS 21,400 - that is, 2.1 times the average salary in the economy. It is interesting to note that there is a positive relationship between an IDF pension and the salary in the private market.
That is, the higher the pension from the army, the higher the salary outside the IDF. For example, the top decile of retirees from permanent service earn more than NIS 84,000 a month on average and continue to receive at the same time almost NIS 23,000 in pensions from the IDF.
IDF soldiers at a checkpoint (illustration), photo: IDF spokesman
This policy probably stems from the IDF's desire to preserve quality personnel and to prevent the spillover of outstanding people to high-tech and other high-paying jobs in the private market. This is because the IDF does not have a service model that allows for a high salary at the beginning without a budget pension or bridging later .
So, in fact, the compensation policy in the IDF is based on pensions, which cost the state coffers astronomical sums - the state's total obligation for budgetary pensions in the defense system has already reached more than half a trillion shekels as of the end of last year.
The report also shows that the average salary of the employees of the defense system ranges from NIS 11,337 among the initial permanent employees in the IDF to NIS 30,385 for employees in the support units of the Ministry of Defense.
Those serving in the IDF earn more than the police and the prison service - both in comparison to age and in comparison to seniority. Salary expenses in the IDF have increased by 17% since 2017, despite the significant decrease in the ratio of the number of prisoners to all employees of the IDF from 2.26 in 2012 to -1.79 in 2021, following the High Court ruling on the matter.
gender gaps
In recent years, there has been an increase in the proportion of women employed in the security agencies, however their number is significantly lower than the number of men employed in them and their proportion ranges from 17.96% female civilians working in the IDF to 29.9% serving in the IDF.
The pay gap between women and men is relatively high in the security agencies, so the highest pay gap is observed in the IDF, about 25%. In the IDF, the pay gap between women and men is only 5%.
There is an increase in the proportion of women employed in the security agencies (photographs are unrelated to the article), photo: Dodo Greenspan
The Chief of Staff's increases
In the context of the report, we recall that Defense Minister Benny Gantz almost brought down the government over the issue of "increasing the Chief of Staff".
Following the petition filed against the IDF that "chief of staff increases" are being paid against the law, Gantz asked the government about six months ago to retroactively "qualify" the increases so that they would be part of the allowance.
The total of the Chief of Staff's allowances cost the state coffers about a billion shekels a year.
The law passed in first reading and was stopped due to opposition to the move.
Due to the election period, the High Court granted the state an extension until the beginning of February, so the issue is not over and will become part of the headache of the next defense minister. In view of the report's data, the question arises as to how necessary the supplements in question are for everyone who receives them.
The supervisor of wages, Kobi Bar Natan, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The commissioner of wages, Kobi Bar Natan, said: "The security system is one of the most important systems in Israel. Recently, the global labor market has been in an upheaval, which creates new challenges in the recruitment and retention of personnel, and the security system is also affected by these processes and requires creative solutions in the allocation of resources in order to meet its goals and ensure Security for the citizens of the State of Israel. We are sure that adopting an innovative model, such as the one signed with the secret agencies a few months ago, will enable a better handling of the challenges of recruitment and retention of the security agencies."
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