The Social Security System – 2006

The system encompasses a lengthy series of programs, most run by the National Insurance Institute and administered by various government ministries (Defense, Finance, Immigrant Absorption) and the free market (employer pension plans). The social security programs have several specific goals: alleviating poverty; maintaining the standard of living of the general population; distributing an individuals’ income over various periods in their lives; helping to cover additional expenses such as those related to child raising; inducing the unemployed to join the labor market; compensating for loss or injury; redistributing resources; and enhancing gender equality. Public expenditure on these programs in 2006 came to NIS 44.5 billion, 42 percent of total social expenditure in the past year’s budget.

This paper appears as a chapter in the Center’s annual publication, Israel’s Social Services 2006, Yaakov Kop (editor).