Jacob Richman’s 2008 CJI Salary Survey Results Now Available

Jacob Richman's 13th annual Computer Jobs in Israel (CJI) salary survey results are in. What's the state of pay in Israeli hitech? Let's take a look.

Dare to compare

To ease the comparison with earlier years and 2007 in particular, I've extended the Google spreadsheet created for last year's analysis by adding in the 2008 results compiled by Jacob Richman.

The new spreadsheet now covers the survey's responses from 2006-2008. Open it in a separate window as you read.

Do these numbers matter?

The 2008 survey had 743 responses versus 865 in 2007, a drop of 122. Those are good sample sizes for general questions such as how many people have company cars (52% in 2008, 2% increase) but most of the included professions only had between 10 and 20 answers with regards to the salary numbers, statistically meaningless.

However, when comparing the breakdowns by mother tongue, we can see that 102 fewer Russian speakers responded to the survey in 2008 although most of the other language group sizes stayed roughly the same. From this we understand that in all likelihood, the vast majority of 2008 responses came from people who also responded in 2007. The breakdowns by “City your work in” seem to support this assumption.

If that's the case, then most of the raises/decreases in pay were for the same people and should give us an idea of real changes that happened in the industry. Just like last year, it's also possible to cross-compare with a site like Check Compare if you have a specific position in mind.

Results of interest

Overall, salaries increased approximately 4% – same as in 2006-2007 – but the Israeli Consumer Price Index increased by over 3% for the same period, pretty much wiping out the effects of that salary increase.

Other significant notes

• 77% of hitech workers are male, seen both in 2007 and 2008
• Around 85% of hitech workers have a college degree
• Roughly 50% of workers have a Computer Science of Computer Engineering degree (this high number is probably due to the nature of the CJI mailing list)
• Over 90% do not work more than 5 days a week, contrary to the impression given by the Jerusalem Post
• Astonishing 92% like their jobs

A good year?

Good, but not great. Israel's hitech employees are largely satisfied with their situation even if there was no major improvement on the average. I personally know a number of people who entered the industry without too much difficulty, another good indicator that there are jobs out there.

If you're curious about past years, check the CJI Salary Survey archives.

Like analysis? Subscribe to JobMob via RSS or email for more slicing and dicing of Israeli job market numbers you care about.