Education and Employment Among Young Arab Israelis

Education and Employment Among Young Arab Israelis

This 2017 research study by Hadas Fuchs explores education trends among young Arab Israelis in high school and academia, as well as employment and wage trends. The study compares trends between men and women as well as between the various sub-population groups: Muslim, Christian, Bedouin, and Druze.

Recent years have seen a significant improvement in the level of education of Arab Israelis at all schooling levels. This chapter focuses on the changes that have taken place at the high school level (the bagrut certificate) and in higher education (the psychometric exam and academic studies) and presents a status report on the education and employment of young Arab Israelis, distinguishing between the various population groups. Arab Israeli women in all groups have greatly improved their level of education. After controlling for socioeconomic characteristics, Arab Israeli women were found to be more successful than expected given their background. At the same time, a very large number of Arab Israeli women continue to study education and pursue employment in this field, even though the labor market is saturated and it is difficult for graduates to find full-time work.

In contrast, less improvement has been seen among Arab Israeli men. The share of young men qualifying for a bagrut certificate has risen, but less than among Jews, and thus the gap has grown to the advantage of Jewish men. At older ages, the situation becomes worse, and there has been almost no change in the share of students qualifying for a degree. Nevertheless, there has been a substantial rise in the share of men studying computer science and engineering, fields that open the door to high-paying professions.

The Taub Center gratefully acknowledges The Diane P. and Guilford Glazer Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles for its generous support of this project.