Within-country differences in school-work linkages: The case of Israel

The strength and structure of linkages between educational outcomes and occupations affects both educational and labor market outcomes, but the characteristics and consequences of these linkages can vary systematically across population groups defined by race, ethnicity, religion and gender. A comparison of linkage structure for Arab and Jewish workers, for Mizrachi and Ashkenazi workers, and for male and female workers in Israel reveals that while strong linkages between educational credentials and occupational destinations are often advantageous, particularly for professionally oriented fields of study in tertiary education, these pathways can also restrict opportunity and differently so when labor markets are organized on gender and or ethnic lines. The educational and occupational marginal distributions, the strength of associations between education and occupation, and labor market flexibility allowing non-normative pathways from educational to occupational outcomes all play a role in defining the pattern of group advantage and disadvantage in the Israeli case.