Male tech graduates earn higher wages than female graduates - study

Approximately half of all Israelis employed today in hi-tech (49.9%) studied engineering and architecture, and almost one-quarter (23%) studied mathematics, statistics and computer science.

By EYTAN HALON
Ultra-Orthodox or "Haredi" women are exempt from the demands of religious studies imposed on men and the Bank of Israel says the past decade has seen "a significant increase" in ultra-Orthodox women's employment rate, now almost at 60 percent. To match Feature ISRAEL-ULTRAORTHODOX/ECONOMY Picture ta (photo credit: DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS)
Ultra-Orthodox or "Haredi" women are exempt from the demands of religious studies imposed on men and the Bank of Israel says the past decade has seen "a significant increase" in ultra-Orthodox women's employment rate, now almost at 60 percent. To match Feature ISRAEL-ULTRAORTHODOX/ECONOMY Picture ta
(photo credit: DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS)
A significantly greater proportion of Israeli male hi-tech degree graduates earn in excess of NIS 13,000 per month than women with the same education, according to data published Tuesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
A total of 57.7% of men who graduated in 2010-’11 with hi-tech degrees, such as computer science or engineering, earned more than NIS 13,000 net salary, compared with 41.3% of women.
More than half (53.8%) of all hi-tech graduates earned such a salary, compared with just 12% of Israelis who graduated with degrees in other fields.
No significant differences in wages were discovered between graduates of technology-related degrees from universities and colleges, the CBS statistics revealed.
Approximately half of all Israelis employed today in hi-tech (49.9%) studied engineering and architecture, and almost one-quarter (23%) studied mathematics, statistics and computer science.
A further 9.8% studied social sciences, and 6% studied business and management courses, with little disparity in employment rates between university and college graduates.
Nearly one-quarter of men (23.7%) who completed undergraduate degrees in all fields are employed in hi-tech today, compared with just 8.1% of women.
Less disparity was noted, however, among the proportion of women employed in the technology sector who graduated with hi-tech degrees (72.3%) and the number of men graduating with the same degrees (76.1%).
The study also noted that among Jewish hi-tech sector employees, 76.5% were graduates with hi-tech degrees. Among Israeli-Arabs, only 54.7% of employees graduated with hi-tech studies.
Among Jewish students who commenced their hi-tech degrees in 2010’11, 63.4% defined themselves as secular Jews, significantly greater than their share (40.9%) of the Jewish population aged 25-34. Only 4.1% of students were considered ultra-Orthodox (haredi).
“The data published by the CBS emphasizes once again the well-known fact that the population groups that find it difficult to integrate into the Israeli hi-tech ecosystem are mainly women and members of the Arab and ultra-Orthodox sectors, who already suffer from social exclusion,” said Ifat Baron-Goldberg, founder and executive director of itworks, a Netanya-based nonprofit working to integrate diverse populations into the hi-tech sector.
“Many obstacles prevent the integration of these groups, including cultural, political and conceptual barriers, preventing their fair and just integration into the labor market,” Baron-Goldberg said. “Solutions for the integration of women, Arabs and ultra-Orthodox are abundant, but the first step is the existence of a desire for gender and sectoral equality, and placing the issue at the top of the Israeli hi-tech agenda.”
Among those who studied hi-tech degrees, 62.9% said their proficiency in English was very good, compared to 57% studying STEM subjects and 43.1% studying other degrees.
Over two-thirds (67.7%) of students commencing university hi-tech degrees in 2010-’11 were born to at least one parent with an academic degree, compared with half (49.6%) of students studying at academic colleges.