maayan

most countries are like that (black economy)

kd80

I can't speak about most countries, or Israel for that matter, but I CAN tell you that I don't believe that is the case in the U.S. I would imagine that any black economy there is certainly not a significant factor in the total economy.

As for Israel and GDP, my experience so far leads me to believe that Israelis either don't know or don't want to know how strong their economy is. They prefer to complain and tell me I'm crazy for leaving the U.S. to come live in Israel. It's a fact that the economic situation in the U.S. is stronger, the statistics don't lie, but the quality of life in Israel is also very high and is growing very quickly.

About GDP and such here's a chart I found with data from the IMF.

maayan

Israel has a lot of losers who think that just because their life sucks it means Israel's quality of life sucks, and also most of them think that Europe and America are just perfect

ira

Israel is full of monopolies and workers don't get paid what they are worth.
Only in the hi Tech field are their opportunities to make money as an employee. This is due to stock options offered in this area.

If you compare salaries of employed people in the U.S. to Israel you'll see how big the difference is.

If you are in business for yourself there is money to be made in Israel. Go to work for someone else you won't be paid what your worth. The banks also soak the small people every chance they get. No real competition their.

Buying a home is joke it's much harder in Israel than the U.S. that goes for a car as well.

What is true is that as the Israeli economy gets stronger there will be an opportunity to share some of the new wealth of the country. Let's hope that their is a trickle down effect and the workers receive some of the new wealth.

josh007

Also GDP per capita grew to almost $22,000 and is continuing to grow fast. With this kind of data the OECD had better accept Israel since we are doing better than some of their members in the EU.