Cognitive skills and labour market experience of FSU immigrants in Israel

Based on the nationwide database of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), the current study investigated the correlation between three cognitive skills (literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments) and three indicators of labour market integration of Former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants in Israel - income, job autonomy and job satisfaction. FSU immigrants reported relatively high levels of job satisfaction, medium levels of job autonomy and an average income. Our findings from multivariate analysis show that numeric skills and problem solving in technology-rich environments were positively correlated with income, while the effect of literacy skills was insignificant, controlling for sociodemographic variables. The effects of the three types of cognitive skills on job autonomy and job satisfaction were found to be insignificant. Our important finding is that if FSU immigrants want to succeed economically, they have to be proficient in the Hebrew language.