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9 Tammuz 5759 - June 23, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Study Reveals: Income in Bnei Brak, Ofakim, Beitar Illit and Emanuel Among Country's Lowest

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

In a study of the socioeconomic level of Israel's residential centers, the country's three largest cities were ranked as middle and high. Jerusalem was placed in group 5; Tel Aviv- Yaffo in group 8; and Haifa in group 7 (group 1 is lowest; group 10 is highest). These findings were derived from the analysis of a series of socioeconomic factors. Additional large cities were also classed as medium-high: Rishon Letzion- 8, Holon-7, Petach Tikvah-7, Beersheva-5, and Netanya-6.

The finding were culled from a study called, "Grading the Cities and the Local Councils: Classification According to Socioeconomic Levels." The study was conducted by the government's Central Bureau for Statistics at the request of the Interior Ministry. Its chief purpose was to prepare a tool to help the Interior Ministry determine criteria for the allocation of resources to local authorities.

The source of most of the data is the Population and Housing Census, conducted in 1995. Data about income and financial aid was also provided by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi).

The study examined a long list of variables. Through the use of sophisticated statistical methods, the data were combined into one quantitative socioeconomic index. Among the statistics examined were financial resources, methods of transportation, employment statistics, welfare cases and scholastic levels.

The study currently relates to each local community as a single unit, without examining differences between various sectors within each.

The locales were divided into 10 homogeneous groups according to the socioeconomic indices. For example, a city on the highest level (number 10) is characterized by a high income rate per capita (five times as much as that of the average per capita rate in lower grade locales) and by a high percentage of households with computers (63% as opposed to 5% on a lower level).

Cities or other locales in which there is at least one university graduate in each household are: Har Adar, Maccabim- Re'ut, Kochav Yair-Savyon and Kfar Vradim (all of which belong to group 10). Places where the amount of university graduates per household is the lowest are: Rahat, Ilut, Zarzir, Jasra-a-Zakra.

Among the places with the highest average income are Savyon, Ramat Hasharon, Kfar Shmaryahu, Omer, Har Adar, and Neve Ephraim. Among those with the lowest average incomes are Beitar Illit, Kalya Arur, Segev-Shalom and Emanuel.

This year's analysis was compared to one made in 1995 of similar types of locales (publication no. 1039 of the Central Bureau for Statistics). The classifying was done by similar methods, but the variables are not all the same. The current listing contains 19 locales that were not included in the former study.

A comparison shows that the grading of most of the locales (93% of them) has not changed, or has changed only by one level.

Currently, the Belmas Data Company is preparing to issue material which will include the detailed grading of the cities and towns, the variable values used in the processing of the material, and explanations of the methodology as well as analysis of the findings. It will also contain grading of the various statistical regions within the communities and the regional councils.


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