Have British Jews fully assimilated in the UK Labour Market

Abstract

This paper analyses the patterns of occupational attainment and earnings among the Jewish community in Britain using UK Labour Force Survey data (2002-2010). The findings suggest that although British-Jews cannot be distinguished from the majority main stream population of British-White in terms of their overall occupational attainment and earnings, it seems that they have managed to integrate through patterns of self-employment and concentration in the service sector economy, particularly in banking and financial services. It is argued that this self-employment profile is a Jewish strategy used to minimise dependency on majority group employers and by doing so to helping to escape any religious penalties.