JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday agreed to increase the minimum wage for his country's civil servants by 19 percent.
The raise is expected to bring Israel's civil servants' salaries up to 5,000 shekels (around $1,282) from 4,200 shekels (roughly $1,076).
Netanyahu instructed the Finance Ministry to implement the minimum wage increase "immediately," according to Israel Radio.
"This is great news for over 700,000 workers in Israel, which helps fight inequality by incentivizing [the unemployed] to return to the job market," the news site Ynet quoted Netanyahu as saying.
Around 18.6 percent of Israeli families live below the poverty line, according to a recent report by Israel's National Insurance Institute.
In March, an annual report of Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics revealed that in 2013 the average real monthly income of an Israeli citizen amounted to 9,204 shekel (nearly $2,630).
Until the end of October 2014, Israel's unemployment rate stood at 6.4 percent, compared to 5.9 percent in the corresponding period in 2013, according to the latest report about unemployment by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.
www.aa.com.tr/en
