(12/1/2011, Arutz Sheva)-- A study seeks to explain how Ethiopian and Russian immigrants see the difficulties they have in moving ahead in Israeli society.
Russian immigrants feel that language – their inability to speak Hebrew like “an Israeli” - is the main reason they have a hard time fitting into the Israeli job market, while Ethiopian immigrants say that Israelis' stereotypes of them are the reason they have difficulty moving ahead sociology-economicially.
These contentions were published in a study undertaken by Ruppin College and released Thursday, in honor of the recently celebrated Sigd holiday of the Ethiopian community in Israel.
The study related only to the perceptions of members of the communities themselves. It did not seek to poll "veteran" Israelis on why they did or did not hire members of the groups, or whether they agreed with the opinions of the immigrants.
Russian immigrants feel that language – their inability to speak Hebrew like “an Israeli” - is the main reason they have a hard time fitting into the Israeli job market, while Ethiopian immigrants say that Israelis' stereotypes of them are the reason they have difficulty moving ahead sociology-economicially.
These contentions were published in a study undertaken by Ruppin College and released Thursday, in honor of the recently celebrated Sigd holiday of the Ethiopian community in Israel.
The study related only to the perceptions of members of the communities themselves. It did not seek to poll "veteran" Israelis on why they did or did not hire members of the groups, or whether they agreed with the opinions of the immigrants.
Over 72% of Ethiopian Jews believe that stereotypes of them – as poor, uneducated, backwards immigrants “just off the boat” who do not understand the basics of living in Western society (race and skin color were not necessarily considered by them to be a problem) – prevented them from getting good jobs, with employers willing to hire them for mostly manual labor and low-tech jobs.
The second and third reasons – with slightly less than 72% of those polled agreeing – were because they could not afford to travel to interviews, and were unable to get to interviews for good jobs before others (and thus preventing them from getting a fair chance at the job), and the lack of a properly prepared resume.
Sixty-nine percent said that their biggest problem was lack of a social network (connections or “protekzia”) in Israel. Only 48.1% felt that lack of Hebrew proficiency was the reason they had a hard time getting hired. Read more from Arutz Sheva »
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