Psychological Capital and Labor Market Participation of Arab Women in Israel

This paper analyzes the psychological capital of Israeli Arab women and its role in their labor market activity. Arab women are the least active group in the Israeli labor market, suffering from cooccurring and multifaceted employment barriers, including limited personal resources, gender and cultural barriers, discrimination, poor local labor market conditions, and more. The paper’s central proposition states that psychological capital – i.e., hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and optimism – is a necessary prerequisite for individuals’ participation in the labor market. Two original studies were conducted. Study 1 used data from a nationwide survey for comparative objectives. Study 2, designed for deepening understanding of the objectives not met in Study 1, collected data from a non-random convenience sample. Study 1 indicates that Israeli Arab women, especially economically inactive women, have relatively and significantly low levels of psychological capital. Study 2 shows that this demographic engages in more behaviors defined as overcoming barriers than labor market-oriented activity. The data reveal that the level of psychological capital among the research demographic prepares them for removing barriers actions; however, it is not sufficiently high to encourage actively seeking employment. The authors conclude that in order to facilitate Israeli Arab women’s transfer into economic activity, policymakers must expand existing employment interventions with short-term psychological capital enhancements. By applying psychological capital to a consideration of labor market transition among Israeli Arab women, this paper contributes to our understanding of labor inactivity among the specific population and broadly to inactivity among employment disadvantaged and ethnic minority groups.