Immigration and Labor Market Mobility in Israel, 1990 to 2009

7. Immigrants from the FSU after Twenty Years in Israel: Evidence and Interpretation

7 7.1 Introduction The previous chapters followed the immigrants who arrived from the FSU during the period 1990 to 1995 over a relatively short period, that is, up to ten years. We now have data on these immigrants up to 2009, which can provide a longer run perspective of this dramatic event in Israel’s history. This concluding chapter provides a descriptive summary of the integration process of FSU immigrants who arrived in Israel in the early wave of 1989 to 1991, which we follow for almost two decades, until 2009. We show that most of the dynamic adjustments in wages and occupation took place in the early years, while in the longer run, immigrants had higher participation rates and lower unemployment rates than comparable native Israelis. However, their wages never converged to those of comparable native Israelis. This is partly because immigrants earned less than natives in the same type of occupation and partly because some highly educated immigrants failed to find a white-collar job.1 For instance, male immigrants who arrived from the FSU in 1990–91 aged 25 to 40 with a college degree and worked in a white-collar job in 2008 earned about 29 percent less than comparable native Israelis. However, only 56 percent of these immigrants had a white-collar job by 2008, as compared to 74 percent of native Israelis with the same age and education. Consequently, on average, the college-educated immigrants who arrived in 1990–91 aged 25 to 40 earned 42 percent less than comparable natives in 2008. In addition to the long-term economic indicators, broader social indicators of long-term integration are presented. These include place of residence (especially with regard to the decision of whether to move into an enclave), home ownership, and marriage patterns for those who married in Israel, as well as the rate of out-migration. Immigrants from the FSU after Twenty Years in Israel: Evidence and Interpretation 246 Chapter 7 Specifically, we observe a tendency among FSU immigrants to move into enclaves. This observation combined with the total absolute size of the group has made it possible for FSU immigrants to maintain their language and culture. In addition, since most of these enclaves are not located in the Center, the gradual move of immigrants to the Periphery was accompanied by a shift from rental to home ownership. The marriage patterns of male and female immigrants who married in Israel show substantial differences between genders. While among male immigrants there is a strong tendency to marry an immigrant with only 10 percent marrying a native, about 36 percent of the female immigrants married a native. We also present data on out-migration, which reflects the long-term integration of immigrants.According to the main observation , survival rates among FSU immigrants are very high and range between 88 and 98 percent depending on age on arrival and schooling. Younger immigrants are more likely to leave the country and within the group of immigrants who were younger on arrival, better-educated immigrants have a higher propensity to out-migrate. Overall, the various indicators suggest that the large scale of this wave of immigration acted to create a relatively supportive environment for FSU immigrants in Israel, which enabled them to continue using the Russian language and to maintain cultural traditions. This made it possible for them to avoid complete assimilation and loss of identity. Furthermore the relatively higher survival rates among better-educated prime-age women and the higher rate of marriage between female immigrants and male natives is consistent with the sociological literature on the integration of FSU immigrants that documents a smoother integration among females (Remennick 2005). 7.2 Employment, Occupations, and Wages In order to describe the integration patterns of FSU immigrants in the labor market during their first 20 years in Israel, we use two annual nationwide surveys for the period 1989 to 2009: the Labor Force Survey (LFS) and the Income Survey (IS), which are both carried out by the CBS. We define two broad occupational categories: (1) white-collar jobs (WC), which include scientific and academic occupations, managers, technical workers, and other professional occupations; and (2) bluecollar jobs (BC), which include all other occupations.2 The data indicate that FSU immigrants entered the Israeli labor force within a short period of time and were willing to accept jobs in low-wage BC occupations.This Immigrants from the...