Labor Market Segmentation and its Implications

Inequality, Deprivation, and Entitlement

Dahlia Moore

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138244887
• eBook ISBN: 9781351996761
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Occupational sex segregation is one of the most universal and salient characteristics of labor markets. It indicates the different probabilities of members of both genders to take up particular occupations, and traditionally places women at a great disadvantage. This book, first published in 1992, focuses on a comparative analysis of sex-segregated occupational categories and attempts to systematically examine their implications. Since very little is known about Israeli working women, and given the cultural differences between Israel and other, more studied industrialised nations, this book focuses on the Israeli labor market. Through the utilization of several theoretical approaches, combining economic, sociological, and social-psychological perspectives, the book analyses empirical findings concerning labor market perceptions, attitudes and behaviors.

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PART I

Inequality: Structure and Processes

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CHAPTER 1

Women’s Labor Force Participation

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Introduction

Israel has a rather short history as a modern state, having gained independence in 1948. The basically underdeveloped agricultural society that existed before Israel’s independence went through a process of modernization and rapid development of its industry, followed by a tremendous growth in its service sector.

It is, therefore, an interesting test case for the study of labor market processes as a great number of male and female workers, from diverse backgrounds and ethnic origins, were assimilated within a short period of time. This chapter focuses on the relations between economic development and the participation of women in the labor force. To do so we have to examine the demographic, economic, political, and social processes that created and shaped that labor force.

Demographic Changes

Economic, political, and social developments in Israel were greatly affected by the arrival of tens of thousands of new immigrants. Mass immigration started long before Israel became an independent state in 1948. The first major waves of immigration came mainly from Europe; the latter ones, arriving in the 1950s, came mainly from Islamic countries. The effects of these two factors—time of arrival and ethnic origin—coincide. As we shall see later, this created major socioeconomic problems.

Immigration until 1948

The Jewish population grew from almost 60,000 in 1919 to 650,000 in 1947. Seventy-two percent of that growth was due to immigration, the rest to natural growth.¹ The immigrants came in waves, mostly from Europe (80% of all the immigrants until 1947 were European, with 109 men for every 100 women).² They came from revolutionary U.S.S.R, ideologically awakened Germany, and antisemitic Poland. Later waves, during and after World War II, were mixed, including Jews from almost every European country, but they were limited in size. The policy of the British government, wanting to maintain the existing ethnic mixture in which Arabs composed the majority and Jews the minority, was to restrict Jewish immigration to Israel (then called Palestine), by issuing only a limited number of entry certificates to Jews. This policy was in effect until the end of Britain’s mandatory rule at the end of 1947.

Among the immigrants who came from European countries during that period, many were young (almost half were 15–29 years old), with at least some education. The level of formal education of the Jews in Israel at that time was among the highest in the world: over 90% of the men and almost 80% of the women were literate, and almost 10% of the men had a professional education (a higher proportion than in the United States in 1950 and more than double the percentage in many European countries). As for occupational training, the majority of the new immigrants had some work experience or training: 15% in agriculture, 36% in crafts and industry, and 16% in the professions. Women were concentrated in the semi-professions and the personal service occupations. Official statistics show that only 13% were unskilled workers.³ Most of the European immigrants settled in the cities or in kibbutzim, helped by family, friends, or acquaintances.

This inflow of human capital contributed to the expansion of the economy and Israel’s nation building without exacting the cost (in terms of national investment and time) for the buildup of that human capital. The Israeli education system by itself could not, at that time, have supplied the know-how needed for the task.

Immigration after 1948

Most of those who had been denied access to pre-state Israel came after 1948 (primarily from Europe), when the restrictions on immigration imposed by the mandatory government were lifted and steps were taken to encourage Jews to immigrate to Israel. As a result, the population almost doubled in the first three years of the state’s existence (1948–1951). After that, the rate of immigration decreased, though it contributed 64% of Jewish population growth until 1965.

These immigration waves included refugees from postwar Europe, but also mass immigration from the Islamic world: primarily North Africa and the Middle East. This somewhat decreased the surplus of males over females (from 7% to 3%), but it also changed the composition of Jewish ethnic groups greatly (see Table 1.1). It also meant that the latecomers from Asia and Africa were absorbed by European Jews, most of whom had come but a short time before them and were not entirely absorbed themselves.

The Oriental Jews began their exodus when it became clear that the new state of Israel was in conflict with the Arab world. Ethnic relations and life conditions in those countries deteriorated and hostile acts against Jews became common occurrences. The need to get as many people as possible out of these countries was urgent and whole communities were uprooted and transferred to Israel (almost 90% of all the immigration from North Africa and 75% of all the immigration from Asia came after 1948).⁴

The massive Oriental immigration had different cultural and social characteristics and it changed drastically the demographic composition of Israel. First, the newcomers from Islamic countries tended to have much larger families in comparison with the veterans or European immigrants, so that the main breadwinner had more people to support. As per the available data for 1954, the average size of European families was 3.5, 5.0 for Oriental families, and for those born in Israel, it was 4.1.⁵

Table 1.1
Composition of the Jewish Population by Country of Birth (1948, 1952)^a

Country of Birth	Absolute Numbers		Percentages
	1948	1952	1948	1952
TOTAL	716,678	1,450,217	100.0	100.0
Native-born^b	253,414	393,873	35.4	27.2
Foreign-bora	462,567	1,056,344	64.6	72.8
TOTAL FOREIGN-BORN	462,567	1,056,344	100.0	100.0
Asia	57,504	292,603	12.5	27.7
Africa	12,181	106,965	2.6	10.1
Europe/America	391,223	656,776	84.9	62.2

aAdapted from C.B.S. 1956. Registration of Population. Special Publication Series, 53. Table XIV, p. xxxi.

bThe proportion of native born is much greater among children (almost 90% of all the children under the age of 4 were born in Israel and 82% of those aged 5–14). Among adults the proportions are much lower—only about 8% of those over 30 years old were born in Israel.

Second, arriving from countries in which the level of technological development was far lower than that of Israel, these immigrants had, on the average, lower human resources (such as education and vocational training) than those who had emigrated from Europe, and many had no voca...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART I—INEQUALITY: STRUCTURE AND PROCESSES
• PART II—REACTIONS TO INEQUALITY
• Appendices
• References
• Author Index
• Subject Index