ABSTRACT
Israeli Jewish society is characterized by an ethnic cleavage between Jews who immigrated to Israel from Europe and America (henceforth, Western), and those from Asia and Africa (henceforth, Eastern). There are persisting socioeconomic gaps between Western immigrants, who achieved high levels of education and earnings, and their Eastern counterparts, who never caught up with them or with native-born Israelis. Moreover, the gaps between the two immigrant groups with respect to the main socioeconomic measures, education and earnings, seems to be as persistent among immigrants’ offspring (henceforth, second generation immigrants) as among the immigrants themselves.
