The impact of liminal legal status on labor market experiences: a comparative study of Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Israel

Figures & data

Table 1. Sudanese forced migrants in Israel, by legal status.

Asylum seekers	3,462
Refugees (Granted status in 2007 due to a government decision)	≈500^a,b
Refugees (Granted status between 2017 and 2021 due to High Court intervention)	3,300^b
Children born in Israel	120^c
Total	7,380^d

^a While the Israeli government approved granting the status to 498 asylum seekers recognized by the UN as being from the Darfur region, the lists forwarded by UNHCR included 600 names.

^b Denotes estimation of individuals who initially received the refugee status. No data is available on how many refugees left Israel.

^c This data is up to date as of 2019 and was provided based on the Freedom of Information Law.

^d Approximately 3% of the total are women.

Table 2. General legal violence mechanisms toward forced migrants.

Description	Asylum seekers	Refugees
No path to permanent status	✓	✓
Periodic visa renewal	short random periods	Once a year
Family reunification ban	✓	✓
Traveling abroad ban	✓
Rights denial (social, health, welfare)	✓
Forced dispersal	✓
Detention	✓
Voluntary deportation	✓	✓

Table 3. Socio-demographic characteristics of survey participants.

	Asylum seekers	Refugees
Age (s.d)	36.6 (5.4)	42 (4.2)
Years in Israel (s.d)	9.0 (1.7)	12.1 (0.5)
Years on the route (s.d)	1.3 (1.8)	3 (1.6)
Marital Status (%)
Single	75	60
Married/In a relationship	19	33.3
Divorced	5	6.7
Widower	1	–
Among the married (%)
Spouse or children in Sudan	79	20
Spouse or children in Israel	21	80
No. of children (s.d)	1.6 (1.4)	2.0 (0.7)
Education (%)
No formal education	5	–
Elementary school	13	23
Junior high school/ not finished high school	25	17
Graduated high school	36	47
Post-secondary and academic education	17	10
Vocational training	4	3
Self-Reporting: Local Language Proficiency (1–5 scale)
Understanding (average)	3.3	3.6
Talking	3.1	3.3
Reading	1.6	1.9
Writing	1.5	1.9
(N)	(100)	(30)

Table 4. Socio-economic legal violence mechanisms toward forced migrants.

Description	Asylum seekers	Refugees
Work prohibition	No-enforcement
Deposit law	✓
No pension/Social security payments (e.g. unemployment, disability)	✓
Ineligible for a driver's license	✓
Ineligible for subsidized tuition (academic & tertiary studies)	✓
Preventing certified professional studies	✓
Self-employment prohibition	✓
Tax file prohibition (income tax and VAT)	✓	✓

Table 5. Patterns of employment.

	Asylum seekers	Refugees
Labor force participation	100	97
Employed^a	93	97
a. Employed monthly	76	91
b. Employed daily	11	0
c. Self-employed	3	3
d. Combo employed (salaried & self)	3	3
Unemployed	7	0
Out of the labor force	0	3
Total	100%	100%
(N)	(100)	(30)

^a As defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO), this includes anyone engaged in work, regardless of its nature or scale.

Table 6. Occupational distribution of employed Sudanese*.

	Asylum seekers	Refugees
Unskilled Jobs	84	33
Construction	29	7
Food preparation	13	–
Agriculture	12	–
Cleaning	12	4
Factories	10	4
Sales	5	4
Maintenance	2	10
Hospitality – hotels	1	4
Skilled Jobs	16	67
Skilled manual jobs (carpenter, mechanic, welder)	11	14
Personal services (cook, gardener)	4	25
Office jobs (in aid organizations)	1	3
Low-level managers – logistics /factories/hospitality	–	25
Total	100%	100%
(N)	(90)	(28)

*The occupation classification is based on the uniform classification of manual workers by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, which adopted the classification of the ILO.

Table 7. Wage distribution.

	Asylum seekers	Refugees
Monthly salary equal to or lower than minimum wage^a	62	15
Monthly salary of $1,471–$2,060	31	74
Monthly salary of $2,061–$2,950	7	11
Working hours per week (SD)	58 (9)	60 (9)
Total	100%	100%
(N)	(87)	(27)

^a The minimum monthly wage in Israel is $1,470 (5,000 NIS, new Israeli shekels).

Table 8. Multivariable linear regression to estimate monthly wages.

	b	S. E	β	p
Constant	2,602.53	1,112.05		0.022
Legal status	−859.89	277.76	−0.297	0.003*
Working hours	49.42	14.87	0.325	0.001*
Education	364.84	365.35	0.096	0.318
Local language proficiency	172.35	174.81	0.098	0.327

R² = 0.219 (P = 0.00).

*P < 0.005.

Table 9. Indicators of abusive employment (%).

	Asylum seekers	Refugees
Subcontracting (employment agency)	40	11
No employment contract	41	26
Cash wage payment	38	–
No pay slip	32	4
Violation of labor rights
No overtime pay	71	26
No sick day pay	87	7
No vacation for a year or more	72	26
No pay for vacation days	38	10
No health insurance	50	Covered by the state^a
Unlawful dismissal/non-payment of compensation	56	66
(N)	(79)	(27)

^a Refugees are entitled to state health insurance regardless of their employment status. On the other hand, asylum seekers can only access health coverage through private insurance, which their employers are mandated to provide.