Former soviet union immigrant engineers in Germany and Israel: The role of contexts of reception on economic assimilation

This article focuses on the employment experiences of engineers from the Former Soviet Union who immigrated to Germany and Israel. By comparing the experiences of highly skilled immigrants with similar backgrounds in two different host countries, we contribute to a better understanding of the ways contexts of reception create different pathways to economic integration. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews conducted with engineers who immigrated to either country after 1989. We identified several factors in the contexts of reception of the destination societies that promoted or hindered immigrants’ incorporation into the labor market: the balance of labor supply and demand in the field of engineering, differences in the two countries’ integration policies, and characteristics of the vocational training programs offered in either country. These differences provided Former Soviet Union (FSU) engineers with different starting points for integrating into the labor market of each.