Skilled Migrants in Dutch Cities: Israeli Infotech professionals in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague

Research shows that highly skilled migrants (HSM) prefer to settle in large urban centres, because these locations offer them easy access to vibrant professional environments, including multiple employment and business opportunities, as well as culturally diverse social milieus. However, despite some attention to the social and professional lives of HSM in cities, research has been dominated by the single case-study approach, focusing on the interface between one group of HSM and one city. The proposed project addresses this limitation by studying the migration of Israeli skilled professionals. Using a comparative urban approach and focusing on information technology (Infotech or IT) professionals who reside in the city-regions of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague, it aims to study the role of the urban context – its social, economic and political setting, actors and institutions - in the migratory experience of HSM. The selection of IT professionals is motivated by their considerable proportion among skilled migrants from Israel, and their economic contribution to knowledge-intensive sectors in these cities (and beyond). The city-regions of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague were selected due to their dominance in the Dutch service-oriented economy. The study utilizes a city-scale analysis to explore how social and professional experiences of Israeli IT migrants are mediated by the specific geographies of their city of work/residence. It sets three research questions: (I) What is the role of the Dutch state – at both the national and local levels - in the migratory trajectories of skilled Israelis, including inter alia their modes of recruitment and relocation, labor market participation, and other mechansisms of socioeconomic integration (e.g., children’s education and family welfare)? (II) What is the role of the social and cultural geographies of cities in the production of the everyday, lived experience of Israeli IT migrants, including their – and their families’ - sense of local (urban/neighborhood) and national belonging, networking within and beyond the migrant commuinty, and other mechanisms of cultural integration into Dutch society? (III) How do migrants’ knolwedge/skills flow in the context of Dutch cities through, inter alia urban professional networks and diasporic research organizations? The project deploys mixed methodology. Primary data about Israeli IT professionals will be collected through official Dutch institutions. In addition, personal interviews will be conducted with 30 migrants (10 per selected city), local officials in pertinent municipal units (e.g., employment), and individuals holding key positions (e.g., human resource managers) at three migrant-employing firms in each city. Interviews will be content-analyzed to allow a theme-based examination of data in urban contexts. Contributions of the study are expected in the economic, administrative and professional realms.