THE LABOR-MARKET ABSORPTION OF CIS IMMIGRANTS TO ISRAEL - 1989-1994

The labour market absorption in the 1990s of some 600,000 immigrants f rom the ex-USSR has, on the whole, been a major success. The rate of u nemployment among immigrants who came in 1990 has converged on the rat e of unemployment for native Israelis. However, concern has been focus ed on the low rates of occupational retention and the waste of human c apital that this implies. We use three micro data sets to investigate the absorption dynamics of CIS immigrants in the Israeli labour market in the 1990s. Our findings suggest that the employment absorption pro cess is steady, if slow. The Labour Force Survey suggests that ''acade mics'' experience positive duration dependence during the first four y ears in Israel. Vocational training did not appear to promote employme nt absorption. However, Hebrew training has a beneficial effect on emp loyment absorption. We caution against the interpretation of occupatio nal mismatch as being identical with the waste of human capital. It ta kes a long time until owners of human capital can fully adapt it to th eir new milieu.