Immigrants in the Israeli Hi-Tech Industry: Comparison to Natives and the Effect of Training

Abstract

During the 1990s, the Israeli economy experienced two major events. First, starting in the fall of 1989, a large wave of relatively highly skilled immigrants arrived from the former Soviet Union (CIS) increasing the population and the labor force by considerable magnitude. Second, the hi-tech sector has grown substantially and reached a peak in growth and level in 2000.

This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the integration of immigrants from the CIS in the Israeli labor market and, specifically, in the hi-tech sector. Based on a unique panel data that follows immigrants for up to 12 years in Israel we find a significant positive correlation between immigrants’ participation in Israeli government-provided training programs and the propensity to work as professionals in the hi-tech industry and to work in white-collar occupations in other sectors. However, this correlation diminishes with ‘time since participation’ such that recent participants face a higher probability to work in hi-tech and white-collar jobs than those who participated in training earlier.

Citation

Cohen-Goldner, S. (2006), "Immigrants in the Israeli Hi-Tech Industry: Comparison to Natives and the Effect of Training", Polachek, S.W., Chiswick, C. and Rapoport, H. (Ed.) The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity (Research in Labor Economics, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 265-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-9121(05)24009-8