Labor Market Integration of Skilled Immigrants

Abstract

This study examined the labor market integration of skilled immigrants in Israel. It delineated the main dimensions of labor market integration in terms of income from work, employment conditions, and work autonomy. A new measure of labor market performance was developed, and the reliability of this measure was supported for different population groups. The study developed a path model of immigrants’ integration explaining how social adaptation affects labor market integration of skilled immigrants of different origin. Based on data from the 2016 Social Survey administered by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, labor market integration of immigrants from Europe and America, and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) was examined. A structural equation model was estimated. The study found that all dimensions of labor market performance were positively related to one another. Social adaptation contributed to labor market integration of immigrants, but its effects differed across the groups. Immigrants fully integrated after 25 years of living in Israel regardless of their origin; immigrants from Europe and America integrated quicker in terms of both pecuniary and non-pecuniary dimensions of labor market performance than FSU immigrants did.