AbstractImmigrants' economic assimilation in host countries is determined by patterns of self‐selection on both – observed attributes (mainly human capital) and unobserved attributes of the immigrants from their source countries. In the present study immigrants' economic assimilation in the United States and Israel are compared. More specifically, the study compares the impact of immigrants' unobserved characteristics on their earnings in both countries by applying a model for decomposing difference in differentials. It makes use of United States and Israeli decennial census data for comparing self‐selection patterns on unobserved attributes of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) who arrived in the United States and Israel during the 1970s. The results indicate that FSU immigrants who chose the United States have significantly higher levels of unobserved earnings determinants than those who chose Israel. These results are discussed in light of migration theories.
Waves of immigrants are often dominated by a single ethnic group, creating difficulty in separating the effects of ethnic origin and immigrant status on earnings. The present article examines the separate effects of ethnicity and immigration on earnings by studying a sample of Israeli workers. The results indicate that immigrant status constitutes a major handicap in the Israeli labor market. Ethnicity, on the other hand, plays a minor role in the earnings determination process. The consequences of these results for labor market policies are discussed.
The study is designed to evaluate the impact of the interaction between patterns of immigrants' self-selection and the context of reception at destinations on economic assimilation of Iranian immigrants who came to three countries during 1979–1985. For that purpose, we studied immigrants at the age of 22 or higher upon arrival by utilizing the 5 percent 1990 and 2000 Public Use Microdata files (PUMS) of the United States census, the 20 percent demographic samples of the 1983 and 1995 Israeli censuses of population, and the 1990 and 2000 Swedish registers. The results indicate that the "most qualified" immigrants – both on observed and unobserved variables – who left Iran right after the Islamic revolution, arrived in the US Their positive self-selection led them to reach complete earnings assimilation with natives there. Iranian immigrants who arrived in Israel and Sweden did not achieve full earnings assimilation with natives. Of these two groups, a smaller immigrant-to-native gap in average earnings was found in Sweden, but in the same time Iranian immigrants in Israel were more positively self-selected and showed better assimilation than their counterparts in Sweden. Market structure played a certain role in immigrants' earnings assimilation mainly in Sweden.
AbstractThe paper analyses the economic assimilation of first, 1.5, and second generation Israeli Jewish immigrants in the United States. The empirical analyses are based on the 1990 public use sample (PUMS) that enables the identification of adult children of Jewish Israeli immigrants. The analyses show that all groups of Jewish Israeli immigrants in the United States are doing very well relative to a benchmark of native‐born Americans. The comparisons also indicate that children of immigrants — both men and women — are even more successful economically than the immigrants themselves. The economic success of Israeli immigrants and their offspring in the United States is due not only to their high level of education, but also to unmeasured traits that help them earn more than demographically comparable natives.
"Drawing on Israeli, German and US census data, we compare the educational levels of Jewish immigrants (and their non-Jewish family members) from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) arriving in Israel, Germany, and the US during 1990-2000. The special circumstances of Immigration from the FSU to the US, Germany and Israel during this 10-year period offer a unique opportunity to study processes of immigrants' patterns of self selection more rigorously than has been done in most previous research. The comparison of educational levels among immigrants arriving in the three countries can be viewed as a natural experiment in immigrants' destination choices, where immigrants had two destination options with practically no visa restriction (Israel and Germany) and one country (USA) with visa requirements. Drawing on Borjas' theory of self-selection, the paper discusses the relative attractiveness of the three countries to various types of immigrants, and tests the empirical status of the theory, expecting highly educated immigrants to prefer destinations where returns to skills are higher. The findings support theoretical expectations: highly educated immigrants were more likely to immigrate to the US, where the labour market is more flexible, and returns to skills are higher than in Israel or Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
"Gestützt auf israelische, deutsche und amerikanische Zensusdaten wird das Bildungsniveau jüdischer Migranten (und ihrer nichtjüdischen Familienangehörigen), die in den Jahren 1990-2000 aus der ehemaligen Sowjetunion (eSU) nach Israel, Deutschland und in die USA auswanderten, verglichen. Die besonderen Umstände der Auswanderung aus der eSU in die USA, nach Deutschland und nach Israel innerhalb dieser zehn Jahre bieten eine einmalige Gelegenheit, die Abläufe der Selbstselektionsmuster von Immigranten genauer zu untersuchen, als dies in früherer Forschung meist geschah. Der Vergleich des Bildungsniveaus von Auswanderern in die drei Länder kann als Resultat eines natürliches Experimentes zur Migrationsentscheidung verstanden werden, bei der Immigranten zwei Optionen mit praktisch keinerlei Visumeinschränkungen (Israel und Deutschland) und eine mit Visumerfordernissen (USA) hatten. Gestützt auf Borjas' Theorie der Selbstselektion behandelt dieser Artikel die relative Anziehungskraft der drei Länder auf verschiedene Typen von Einwanderern und testet diese Theorie empirisch. Es ist zu erwarten, dass Immigranten mit hoher Bildung Aufnahmeländer vorziehen, in denen ihre Bildungserträge höher sind. Die Ergebnisse stützen die theoretischen Annahmen: Emigranten mit hoher Bildung wandern mit größerer Wahrscheinlichkeit in die USA aus, wo der Arbeitsmarkt flexibler ist und ihre Qualifikationserträge höher sind als in Israel oder Deutschland." (Autorenreferat). Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1990 bis 2000.;;;"Drawing on Israeli, German and US census data, the authors compare the educational levels of Jewish immigrants (and their non-Jewish family members) from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) arriving in Israel, Germany, and the US during 1990-2000. The special circumstances of immigration from the FSU to the US, Germany and Israel during this 10-year period offer a unique opportunity to study processes of immigrants' patterns of self selection more rigorously than has been done in most previous research. The comparison of educational levels among immigrants arriving in the three countries can be viewed as a natural experiment in immigrants' destination choices, where immigrants had two destination options with practically no visa restriction (Israel and Germany) and one country (USA) with visa requirements. Drawing on Borjas' theory of self-selection, the paper discusses the relative attractiveness of the three countries to various types of immigrants, and tests the empirical status of the theory, expecting highly educated immigrants to prefer destinations where returns to skills are higher. The findings support theoretical expectations: highly educated immigrants were more likely to immigrate to the US, where the labour market is more flexible, and returns to skills are higher than in Israel or Germany." (author's abstract).
AbstractThe present study evaluates the interplay between the effects of host countries' characteristics and self‐selection patterns of immigrants from a highly developed country on their economic assimilation in other developed countries. The focus is on immigrants originated from Germany during 1990–2000 who migrated to Sweden and the US. The results show that almost all German immigrants reached full earnings assimilation with natives of similar observed attributes, and that the assimilation of highly educated Germans was better than that of the less educated. It was also found that the skilled immigrants were compensated for their human capital acquired in Germany. Finally, the better assimilation of German immigrants, especially the highly educated, took place in the US. This finding was probably the result of an interaction between the Germans' pattern of self‐selection and the US context of reception.
