In what seems to have become an annual tradition, the Defense and Finance ministries are locking horns over defense spending. The Defense Ministry claims that any infringement on the defense budget would jeopardize national security, while the Finance Ministry claims that the inflated budget must be trimmed. Now, for the first time, the military's pension benefits have been released, revealing surprising figures about the high pension and retirement benefits afforded to career officers and veterans of the Israel Defense Forces. Israel Hayom has learned that 1.3 percent of career officers who retire from service are eligible for monthly pension benefits higher than 30,000 shekels ($8,620), and that the heights paid IDF retiree receives a monthly pension of NIS 63,686 ($18,299). The individual in question is an 84-year-old man who retired from service at the age of 54, and whose 28 years of military pension amount to millions of shekels. Coming in second in the list of 100 highest-paid military pensioners is a 65-year-old retired officer whose monthly pension amounts to NIS 61,306 ($17,615). He too retired at the age of 54. Another pensioner, who retired at the age of 56, receives a pension of NIS 53,000 ($15,229). However, it is important to note that 76% of those receiving the highest military pensions are senior field officers holding the rank of major general and higher. The data suggest that the average monthly pension retired IDF personnel are eligible for amounts to NIS 10,774 ($3,096). According to the military, some 2,300 of its retirees are eligible for a pension amounting to NIS 4,052 ($1,164), which is lower than the minimum wage, currently set at NIS 4,300 ($1,236). The IDF pensioner who receives the lowest benefits is eligible for monthly payments of NIS 1,297 ($373). Retirement age increasing The public resentment for the benefits awarded to retired IDF personnel stems mostly from the contributory pension scheme they are eligible for, which allows anyone who retires from active service to receive monthly pension payments immediately. The IDF introduced the contributory pension scheme in 2004 and those enlisting from that year on are not longer eligible for it. According to the military, some 60% of its career personnel are part of the contributory pension scheme, which in the future will save the military considerable funds. Still, the budgetary benefits of the scheme will take years to impact the military's pension expenditures. The Finance Ministry's accountant general's report of the government's expenditures in 2012 was the first to note any decrease in the defense establishment's future pension payments' obligations, projecting a 12% decrease in future pension payments. According to the information released by the military, the IDF has gradually increased its retirement age over the past few years: If in 2007 the average retirement age among IDF personnel was 44.8, in 2013 it edged up to 46.6 and it will be set at 47 in 2014. According to the military, its career service model will be updated to set the average retirement age at 50 by 2029, but sources familiar with the issue said it is likely to reach that point much sooner. The IDF stressed that ensuring pension payments for retired military personnel was essential as many of them are unable to find employment once they leave the service, having given the best years of their lives to the military. Several IDF officials have expressed concern over increasing retirement age, as well as over the public and media backlash over the military pensions, and the extensive personnel cutback within the military's ranks. As part of the cuts applied to defense spending in the 2013-2014 state budget, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz has already ordered the dismissal of 1,200 career officers, and further cutbacks are expected in the near future. Military data suggests that dozens of those recently dismissed from the military are ages 35 to 39, making for a complex reality in today's job market. The IDF has expressed concerns that eroding military personnel's sense of job security would result is diminished motivation by quality personnel to pursue a military career, as such individuals would opt to seek employment in the civilian sector, which can offer them better job security, hours and pay. According to the IDF's data, some 55% of the military's career personnel are considered "temporary employees" for the first seven years of their service, and full tenure is awarded only to those who graduate from that probationary period. However, the new cutbacks scheme imposed on the military has impacted the job security of the latter group as well, a military source said. The IDF stressed that contrary to public opinion, a review of career personnel wages paints a bleak picture: according to the latest report by the Finance Ministry's director of wages, the average military salary in 2012 came to NIS 12,681 ($3,644), representing a 0.6% wage erosion for that year, and following a 1.7% wage erosion noted in 2011. The IDF said that between 2006 and 2012, the overall growth in public sector wages was double its military counterpart, and that in 2012 some 25% of all officers and noncommissioned officer actually required income supplements to reach minimum wage. The report further found that 47% of military career personnel's waged fell short of the average wages in the private sector, compared to 14.78% of those in the public sector. "The point of this report is to present the public with a transport picture detailing the situation as a whole," a defense official said. "For years we have been accused of paying exorbitant salaries, but the data clearly shows that the IDF is the most efficient body in the public sector, but those serving in it do so under less desirable conditions than those in the rest of the public sector."
