Discrimination: causes, effects, and social implications

Discrimination

There are many different types of discrimination that exist in the labor market today. There is ethnic discrimination as well as other discrimination like gender discrimination. Kenneth Arrow, the Nobel Prize winner, defined discrimination as "the valuation in the market place of personal characteristics of the worker that are unrelated to productivity" (Anonymous). Harassment can also be racial in nature or can be gender oriented. Harassment in the labor market would be the act of tormenting someone by continued and persistent criticism and attacks. Discrimination however is the unfair treatment given to people or group on the basis of prejudice.

A group of 14 people from seven different European country visited Israel/Palestine for five days in 2004 to investigate and look in to the labor situation of the Palestinian workers present within Israel and the Occupied Territories. It is known that the labor market in Israel as well as Palestine is highly unstable and the unemployment rate is very high. About 57% of the population that is of the working age forms the part of the labor force. In European countries this figure rises to about 67%. The economy of the Occupied Territory relies on the citizens to find job and be employed in Israel. Arabs form 20% of the population of Israel and mostly live in secluded villages where they do not have any industries or large organizations. Their unemployment is 1.5 times greater than the entire nation. Israel has been making plans to increase this percentage greatly:

'As part of the policy of directing populations toward the labor market and toward a transition from welfare to labor and following the reforms in income supplement and child allowances, the 2004 budget proposes several measures that are intended to create motivation to work and to increase the percentage of people participating in the labor market." (Finance Ministry)

It has been seen that for the Arab workers, unemployment has become a problem in Israel. This situation is the result of the discrimination against the Arabs. They are not hired in the job markets and with time this condition has been worsening. Due to the conflict between the Arabs and the State of Israel, the Arabs are not given work and are being continuously discriminated against. According to a research institution in Israel called Adva Center, the average salary of the Arab communities is only half as compared to the Jewish towns and cities. The average salary of the Jewish household is at NIS 9363 whereas that of the Arab household is NIS 5252 (Adva Center). This is due to the policy making of Israel since 1948 towards the Arab citizens. The Arab community does not have land and additionally is not allowed to develop industries. This has led the Arab community to become the peasants who have to travel to the Jewish controlled and owned industrial areas (Dr. Aziz Haidar).

Israel's law states that there should be equal opportunities given to all the citizens. However this is not the case and both sides are responsible to some extent. Palestinians extremists have been known to conduct attacks on the citizens of Israel and thus Israel and the Jewish community discriminates against all Arabs while using the excuse that is security oriented. Due to this discrimination the Arab population fills the lowest positions in the labor market regardless of their education. Even then their work conditions are far worse as compared to those Jews that are also in the lowest positions in the labor market. Mostly the Arabs are now going towards the construction sector and are working there. They form the major part of the construction labor in Israel. This has led to a decline in the Arab economy.

Discrimination in the labor market has many adverse effects and can be the cause to a lowered workforce within a nation. With discrimination in the labor force comes forth the inequality in their wages. The discriminated group would receive lesser wages as compared to the non-discriminated group or the discriminating group. These discriminations are as such based on the difference in personal characteristics like the age, sex, religion, race, nationality or education of the individual. In the case above the discrimination is mostly due to the race than any other factor. Both the Israeli and Palestinian need to accept each other and look past differences. Although the fault is not solely of the Jewish side, the Jewish side should train their people and notify industrialists and policy makers that the Arab population should be given an equal opportunity. Further they should also be allowed to put industries and bring themselves out of the poverty that they are in now. There are many examples all over the globe where people are discriminated on the basis of gender. A woman is paid less than a man. This is highly unfair and should be avoided under all circumstances. All forms of discrimination should be avoided by the people and everyone should be paid fairly and dealt with justly. Human resource managers face and deal with a large diversity of people and they play an important part in eliminating the discrimination that is found to exist in society today. After the September 11 attacks on the world trade center the Muslims had become the target to this discrimination in the United States. Muslims were being looked at as if every one of them is a terrorist. Not only was this true for the general public but for large firms and organizations. Many of them lost their jobs because of this discrimination.