Employmentweb_low

EmpLoymEnT, work, And HEALTH inEquALiTiES - a global perspective
Case study 16. Employment, health and challenges to integration: the case of the Beta Israel. - mame bougouma diene
and meera sethi
israel is a multi-ethnic state shaped by successive waves of immigration. it is estimated that 80 per cent of its
population is immigrants. over the past 15 years, more than 45,000 people have emigrated from ethiopia to israel. ethnic
origin weighs on israel's stratification system. research has shown that the greater the similarity between the country of
origin and destination in labour market structure and culture, the easier is the transfer of skills and knowledge, which in
turn increases the likelihood of successful integration. migrants from Western countries have attained higher
socioeconomic status in israel than other migrant groups due to higher levels of human capital and a high degree of
similarity with the dominant group's norms and values.
the majority of ethiopian immigrants emigrated to israel with the support of the israeli government in two major waves
in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. For many years ethiopian Jews, also known as "beta israel" or "Falashas," could not take
advantage of the law of return (entitling Jews and their families to immigrate to israel and assume automatic citizenship
upon arrival) because the israeli religious authorities disputed their "Jewishness." it has been a great challenge for
ethiopian Jews to move from a rural developing nation to a Western nation with a high technology market economy, and
ethiopian migration presents a very special case in modern history, combining both the human capital differential with racial
integration difficulties.
in order to facilitate the integration of ethiopian Jews into israeli society, the israeli ministry of immigrant absorption
has set up a number of measures. besides citizenship, these include language classes, health coverage, social counseling,
job training, vocational training, in-school and after-school programmes, and college preparatory programmes. to prevent
concentration in impoverished areas, ethiopian immigrants are given very favourable conditions for purchasing homes, such
as grants covering up to 85 per cent of the property's cost combined with very low monthly payments. in spite of these
efforts, socioeconomic integration is still slow; in 1995, 30 per cent of ethiopian israelis' households were still located in the
absorption centers that had been set up by the israeli government to ease their integration.
ethiopian israelis have lower employment rates than other ethnic groups in israel. only 66 per cent of men of working
age report being employed, and only 23 per cent of women. this rate is even lower than israeli palestinian men (72%), the
second less-integrated ethnic group. however, ethiopian israeli women's rate of employment is higher than israeli
palestinian women's. Furthermore, whereas most employed ethiopian israelis are salaried workers (85% of men, and 70%
of women), as are most israelis in general, self-employment among ethiopian israelis is practically nonexistent (less than
1%), even in comparison with israeli palestinians (17%). interestingly enough, while only 59 per cent of ethiopian israeli men
work full-time (41 hours per week), the percentage of employed women working full-time is higher among ethiopian israeli
women than in the other ethnic groups. however, 31 per cent of ethiopian israeli women report an unknown number of
weekly working hours, and unknown status at work. this can be explained by the over-representation of ethiopian israelis
at the bottom of the employment hierarchy: 80 per cent of ethiopian israelis, both men and women, report low or unskilled
occupations while only 4 per cent of men and 6 per cent of women report jobs requiring higher education or skills. this divide
is the largest among all ethnic groups in the country.
Source
offer, s. (2004). the socio-economic integration of the ethiopian community in israel. International Migration, 42(3), 29-55.
Unemployment
The growth of the world economy since the beginning of the 21st Century
has so far failed to significantly reduce global levels of unemployment. It
is in low-income countries, and specifically among women and youth,
that unemployment hits hardest. In these countries, unemployed
workers turn to the informal sector to find work, but there they face high
uncertainty due to the lack of unemployment benefits or availability of
social security. To illustrate the global picture of unemployment, we first
discuss the definition of the term itself. after this, we use empirical data
to demonstrate world trends in unemployment (before the economic
crisis, see chapter 10). Finally, we discuss the impact of unemployment
on both individuals and societies.
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