Educational Occupational Mismatch as a Generator of Income Inequality in Israel

This research report, which is based on data from surveys of the Israeli labor market conducted during 2000–2010, examines the extent to which occupational mismatches are found among college-educated Arabs in Israel as compared to among college-educated Jews. The findings indicate that the chances that a college-educated Arab will engage in an occupation that is commensurate with his or her level of education are much lower than those of a Jew with the same qualifications, and that this occupational mismatch is a contributing factor to the inequality between different sectors of Israeli society.

In addition, the findings show that compared with college-educated Jews, college-educated Arabs are more likely to engage in open professions such as engineering, law, and accounting. This tendency probably reflects their lack of confidence in the willingness of the Israeli labor market to absorb them in appropriate fields, especially in the government sector. Well-educated Arabs are also more likely to work as teachers in primary schools and secondary schools. In contrast, their rate of employment as faculty members of universities is very low. These results were consistent throughout the tens years of the study (2000-2010) and reinforce the phenomenon known as the "ethnic penalty"—a disadvantage suffered by educated Arabs in general, and by Muslims in particular, when they attempt to enter the labor market.

Dr. Sami Miaari is an IDI researcher who is serving as Acting Head of IDI's Arab-Jewish Relations project. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Labor Studies at Tel-Aviv University.