Factors Immigrants : Contribution of Government Policies and Cultural Job Security and the Perception of Unemployment among

Roni Kaufman and Julia MirskyFrom the beginning of the 1990s about 1 million immigrants arrivedin Israel from the former Soviet Union (FSU), and over 50 percentof them have joined the Israeli labor market (Central Bureau ofStatistics, 2000b). Although in its first years this mass immigrationcontributed to an impressive growth of the Israeli economy, it didnot prevent subsequent recession and the increase in unemploymentrates, which have typified Israel since 1996. The present studyexplores the occupational expectations of new immigrants in Israeland their perception of the economic situation in their new home-land.High rates of unemployment among immigrants are widelyencountered in immigration receiving countries (Chiswick et al.,1997; Miller and Neo, 1997) and have to do with the incompatibilitybetween the immigrants’ knowledge, skills and know-how and thenew reality. At the same time, the influx of immigrants affects thegeneral labor market of a host country and may in its turn affectthe employment rates of immigrants.